


and more, much more than this... i did it my way

by Sirifall



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, M/M, Other, Slow Burn, The Revolution Crew (tm), cause thats basically what this is, hey do you miss fic.net ocs?, i'll put the entire coalition in here eventually tbh, loving big brother lance, man i just wanna write im sorry i miss fic.net ocs, separate plotline, sibling fic, this is the most effort ive put into a fic like ever, you know its a slow burn bc the main paring doesn't even show up til like chapter 6 lmao
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-13
Updated: 2018-03-08
Packaged: 2019-01-17 01:02:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 21,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12354183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sirifall/pseuds/Sirifall
Summary: WAS THE BROADCAST REAL? (discussion)- no way, that thing was way too staged- I don’t think so dude, she sounded pretty real to me. And she’s right, Veronica McClain disappeared just a little while after her brother Lance did. It was big news over here.- Wait, So Veronica McClain’s a real person???- Yeah man, she’s been missing for a month at least.





	1. video killed the radio star

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to write an old fashioned OC insert fic because I honestly miss them, so: here's Veronica McClain, no she is not a self-insert (well, maybe a little), her relationships are all slow burn bc I'm Hella Ace and also haven't decided who I want her with yet. I'll be plaguing the Recent Works tab with this baby until I run out of material (current count: 65 pages) whether anyone bothers to comment or not, so you might as well just go ahead and do it.  
> I could so REALLY oldschool and not claim responsibility for what I do to cannon characters and/or plotline. How to the kids talk these days? What's a 'smut', you mean a lemon? Or, god forbid, a LIME? Gosh darn, don't FLAME my OC guyz!!! Catch me at xXBloodTigerXx okay no i can't do this anymore just go ahead and read.

_And we could just walk forever, never letting g-_

_\- 66 is backed due to an accident near Manassas-_

**_-TSSSHHHHHHH-_ **

_\- once in a lifetime, so don’t wait-_

**_-TSSSHHHHHHH-WORKING? PLE-TSSSHHHHHHH-ON, gimme something here-TSSSHHHHH-piece of-_ **

**_-TSSSHHHHH-garbage! Why did I-TSSSHHHH-thing, I’m such an idiot, nice go-TSSHHH-_ **

-working? Come on, show me the output – please let this work, I’ll never say a thing against the Glitauns again as long as this stupid thing works – okay. Good output. That’s… that’s good. How far are we reaching, how far…?

Oh. Wow. I take back everything, the Glitauns are amazing and wonderful and the saviors of the universe, _oh wow_ that’s a lot of area, I’m pulling this up in three dimensions- holy- does this thing reach Earth? That’d be so cool… dear god it does. I did it. Holy f- I _did_ it! _Yes_! Take _that_ you slimy Bariyn toadstool, _I did it_! This is _my ship_ , Ignetrk, see how much better I am? That’s right, eat your words, bet you can’t even track me with all those fancy dials, now can you? Jerk!

Alright. Um. So, don’t panic! All of you listening, don’t panic, I’m… wow I am going to be in so much trouble when I get home. Uh, my name is Veronica, those of you on Earth may have heard of me mostly because you probably think I went missing a few weeks… a month ago? How many cycles have gone by… um, yeah, I left my home planet about a month ago, which translates to almost exactly five imperial cycles. I still can’t remember the word for those, but it doesn’t matter. When I left, my planet hadn’t experienced any wide-scale interplanetary communication yet, so… surprise! Life exists outside Earth, and some of it can build really, _really_ good radios. Or- would these be called radios? I don’t think so…?

That- that’s not the point. I’m getting off topic. As far as I know, sending out broadcasts as wide as this one looks is… _pretty_ illegal. I can’t talk for long, but I’m planning on sending out a broadcast whenever I can spare the time, so just- just stay with me. I’m looking for my brother, he was- I don’t know how he got off planet, but he did, and I’ve been spending the last five cycles trying to find a way after him- so I can bring him home! Or at least figure out if he’s okay! But I- I haven’t found anything, not yet.

The universe is a really big place. This is probably the most reliable way to get my message heard, so… Lance, if you can hear this- surprise, I guess? I’m coming to get you. And don’t worry, I managed to get a pretty fast ship – it’s no teludav, I heard some of the Glitauns talking about those, apparently they can make wormholes, which I am so jealous of. But I have a ship! It’s a good ship, with nice guns and defenses and everything. Space suits, breathable air, I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.

Okay, I’m talking too long, I can feel the empire breathing down my neck and it sucks- I’ll see you soon Lance! Um, to all the populated planets that just got their worldview shaken, I’m really sorry about that, and I’m also probably going to do it again eventually, so don’t panic. Veronica out.

-tss _ssshh **hhhHHHHHH-**_

**_-TSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-_ **

_-the end is near, and so I face the final curtain. My friend, I’ll say it clear; I’ll state my case of which I’m certain…-_

_-I was up tight, wanna let loose. I was dreaming of bigger things, and left my whole life behind-_

_-keep careful watch of my brother’s souls, and should this sky fill with fire and smoke-_

_-can I be close to you? Ooh-_

_-blue, the color of our planet from far, far away…-_

*

**WAS THE BROADCAST REAL? (discussion)**

\- no way, that thing was way too staged

 **-** I don’t think so dude, she sounded pretty real to me. And she’s right, Veronica McClain disappeared just a little while after her brother Lance did. It was big news over here.

 **-** Wait, So Veronica McClain’s a real person???

 **-** Yeah man, she’s been missing for a month at least.

\- why do you think it was staged??

               - please, some girl just happens to find a way off-planet when it took the rest of us years of hard work, coding, etc? “””veronica””” (if that’s even her) had a brother that went missing around two months ago= not long enough to build a spaceship. it’s just not possible.

               - but veronica and lance mcclain do actually exist?

               - well yeah they exist, and went missing, but they can’t be in SPACE.

               - why not? (just trying to rule out all options)

               - look, two underage Cuban siblings are not gonna be able to build/steal a spaceship and break the atmosphere TWO DIFFERENT TIMES w/o anyone even noticing.

                              - ‘oh no officer that’s not a spaceship it’s a…… art….. piece?’

                              - lmao she had to have tested it right? ‘its an interactive art piece *engine sputters* im workin out the kinks’

                              - “working out the kinks” im wheezing

               - Either ‘Veronica’ is a really good actor, or it was real.

                              - don’t be an idiot, you just want to believe in aliens

                              - LET ME LIVE MY LIFE

               - Doubt it, there’s no way a transmission that clear would come all the way from (I assume) a distant inhabited planet and not only get here the same day but come in crystal clear on human radios. Like, what are the odds that aliens have the EXACT SAME technology as us?

                              - there’s a missing girl claiming to be on a galaxy-wide manhunt and the only problem you find is with her radio?

                              - Shut up, I take radios seriously.

               - [Message Deleted Due To Inappropriate Content]

                              - shut the f*** up

               - man I know what I’d do to my bro if I had to drag his butt home all the way from SPACE #prayforlance

                              - tfw your sister is comin to pick u up but you don’t even know where you are #prayforlance

               - Whoever this ‘Veronica’ is, she really shouldn’t joke about being the missing McClain sibling. Like, what if the REAL Veronica’s mom heard the broadcast? Her family, not to mention Lance’s family, would probably be FURIOUS.

                              - Mrs McClain had an interview like five hours after the broadcast, she said it sounded like the actual Veronica.

                              - She could have misheard, and if it was Veronica, then it was a [Redacted] thing for HER to do too. Why would she needlessly worry her mother like that?

                              - dude what if veronica had a mental breakdown and just THINKS she’s in space

                              - Don’t joke about that.

                              - i’m not!!!!!

*

**PRESS RELEASE: THE TRANSMISSION DID COME FROM BEYOND OUR ATMOSPHERE**

_For those of you unaware, or just living under a rock - Tuesday morning, at around six AM, one transmission took over every single radio functioning on the planet. You read right: every single one, including airplane radio frequencies and channels hosting army communications. The message itself, while distracting, did not seem to be unaware of our presence, going so far as to address the planet as a whole while neglecting to promise what most scifi movies dreamed of humanities’ first contact: an invasion._

_Instead, what greeted the listening ears of Washington D.C.’s morning commute was the voice of a girl claiming to be Veronica McClain, someone who allegedly disappeared a month ago, shortly after her brother, Lance McClain, vanished from the Galaxy Garrison a month before along with two other students._

_Whether or not the voice belonged to the same Veronica is a mystery, but these are the facts: her message reached the entire globe, and this message did not come from Earth. Investigations as to where exactly in the universe it did come from is still ongoing, but should ‘Veronica’ keep true to her word, there may be yet another transmission on the way._

*

               - IT WAS REAL

                              - don’t get ur hopes up, she still could’ve recorded the message and launched it

                              - NO DUD E IT W AS REAL IM TEL LING YOU

               - oh man #prayforlance

                              - Go get him honey #prayforlance


	2. this is major tom to ground control

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who is Veronica?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sup yall 61 pages to go.

**[TRANSMISSION INCOMING]**

“Mom, mom it’s happening again! Veronica’s back!”

“VERONICA! CAN YOU HEAR US?”

“I don’t think it goes two ways honey. I’m sure your cousin knows you miss her though.”

“VERONICA WE MISS YOU!”

“YOU’LL COME BACK AND TELL SPACE STORIES WITH LANCE, RIGHT?”

“Suzanne.”

“Hm?”

“… Do you think she’s alright? She said something about an empire, last time!”

“I’m sure she’s fine, tía. Vivi was always good at getting out of trouble.”

“Going up against an entire universe, though…”

“… If she can get herself out there, she can find her way back. We just have to have faith.”

“She’s only sixteen, she has no business in space anyway! But… if faith is the best we can do, we may as well do it.”

*

**_TSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-_ **

**_-TSSHHhhhhh-on? Please don’t tell me it was-_ **

-a one-time thing! Oh, wait, wait… yes! And we are back online! Okay, what’s our range today… we moved a bit – just give me a sec-uh a tick, just a tick – ah, okay, it doesn’t look like I’m reaching any new planets yet. That’s… well, at least the radio-thingy still works. But, um, Earth is a lot closer to the edge of my area now, which means I’m not gonna be in range for much longer unless I start orbiting. It might not be a bad idea…

Oh- hello everyone back home! And surrounding systems, obviously, duh, of course. If you remember, I sent out a broadcast a little while ago. I think I’m a lot farther from imperial ships now, so unless some civilians try to turn me in, I’m safe to talk for a little longer this time. Everyone who didn’t hear my last broadcast: I’m looking for my brother. His name is Lance, he’s got two eyes, one nose, one mouth, two ears, arms, and legs – my home planet calls things that look like that ‘humanoid’. No one seems to know where he is, so I had the – genius – idea to try contacting him directly, which is what you’re hearing now. I, uh, borrowed a ship about six cycles ago and towed myself to the first inhabited planet nearby, and I’ve been sorta accumulating technology ever since – weapon and shield upgrades, scanners, engines, the works – and the radio. The radio is important.

A lot of you probably have questions, I know, and I’ll try to answer some, but understand, my brother takes priority. Please don’t try to find me – if you want me to stop broadcasting, please just do me the favor of finding him instead, and I’ll figure something out from there.

Um, let’s see, questions…? Geez, what would I have asked Lance… how… did I get here. How did I get here? Long story short, I, uh, ‘found’ a space-worthy ship while I was trying to figure out where Lance disappeared to, and may have… accidently… turned it on? And then, completely on accident, flew away from Earth. Yup, that’s my story, let’s stick to it, all of this was completely not intentional and I cannot be blamed for how it started.

*

Commander Iverson sits up in his chair. “You’d think we’d have better _security_ after all the times the Holt girl got in! ‘Found’ a fully-functioning ship,” he grumbles, “’Found’. Little rat, who even let her in? She’s a sixteen year-old girl! _Why_ do little girls keep beating us!”

“Need a drink, Commander?”

He glares at the radio on the mess hall table. “Yeah, go ‘find’ me some whiskey or something. ‘Found’…”

*

From there, I went to an inhabited planet nearby to start searching – in the right place this time, which turns out to be ‘anywhere but earth’. The people on that planet, the Diunt, they didn’t really get the whole space… thing, so me coming down from the sky was a bit of a surprise for pretty much everyone. But hey, it turns out they’ve progressed just enough to have harnessed a power source. Not electricity. It was actually some sort of… crystal, I guess? And one of them gave me one, which gave me better functionality and a good reason to mess with the mechanics of this thing. _That_ was fun. I singed myself, like, seven times, it was great. And I learned my way around alien engines, which was _amazing_.

And I just… kept doing it. Planet to planet, asking around for Lance and getting repairs and updates on the side. I eventually figured out that my ship was originally Galran – that’s, uh, the prime species of the empire, by the way – but… well, it’s definitely not Galran anymore! I’ve hacked this thing to pieces and stitched on so many new parts, I think the creator would’ve either sucker-punched me or shook my hand if they ever saw just how much I’ve changed.

Eventually I got this radio – and spent a full cycle trying to learn how to work it. It was a challenge, but I did it, didn’t I? And now you’re all caught up.

… I can tell this was a good idea. The radio, I mean. I’ve got a good feeling about this one.

Alright, I’m coming up on another planet – sorry, there’s no way I’m purposefully naming it, not with the empire listening in – but anyway, I’ll have to shut down the broadcast while I prepare to land. It’s been fun. I’ll update when I can.

Lance, if you’re out there, I haven’t given up on you. I’ll be there soon. Veronica out.

**_-tsssshhhhh-_ **

**_-TSSSHHHHHHHHHHHH-_ **

*

               - Knows her way around an engine and only takes a week to get used to alien tech? Girl after my own heart.

                              - she’s 16 you creep

                              -You’re only starting to like her now?

               - i still say the whole thing’s a hoax. throwing in even more unbelievable junk isn’t suddenly gonna make me see how some random girl can fly an alien ship with no training and then actually fix the same alien ship just cause.

                              - Veronica is some sort of genius if she really did all that.

                                             - that’s a big ‘IF’.

                              - IDK man, everyone’s paying attention now. It’s still coming from space, and no one’s seen anything break the atmosphere. She might actually be out there.

                                             - dude, a 16yrold girl just ‘’’finds’’’ a spaceship and suddenly knows exactly how to fly it?

                                             - Fair, fair, but other than that, no one’s ACTUALLY found anything wrong with her story.

                                             - are you serious!?!?!? everything’s wrong with her story!!!!!

               - My girl V can probs BUILD a new brother to beat but shes still goin after the original #prayforlance

*

**WHO IS VERONICA MCCLAIN?**

               _Almost everyone knows her name now: Veronica McClain, the girl in the stars, on a journey to bring her brother home. But McClain wasn’t always a public mystery – we talked with Elisa McClain, the mother of Earth’s two most famous runaways, for more information on this faceless voice we’ve grown so attached to._

_“She’s always been like that,” Mrs. McClain told us fondly when we asked about her apparent love for alien technology. “She was taking apart pens at three, and small devices at five.” From what we understand, Veronica turns out to be an unrecognized prodigy in the world of mechanics – however, she became disheartened by the frequent backlash she faced whenever she tried to find her community, and eventually decided to keep to herself. “She loves being loved,” Mrs. McClain said, “and being hated by so many strangers got to her. Before she left, she kept all her projects to herself. The only one she trusted with them was Lance.”_

_And isn’t that a whole other can of worms? Lance McClain, missing for nearly three months now, found his calling in a space exploration program, of all things. The Galaxy Garrison faced harsh – or not-so-harsh – consequences for failing to stop the disappearances of three students._

_“We all supported Lance when he decided to become a pilot,” Mrs. McClain told us, “but Veronica was always the only one that could get through to him. If I tell him his decision is dangerous, he waves me off, but if Veronica does it… he spent hours thinking it over after she talked to him about being a pilot.”_

_And what was Lance himself like, under all that ambition? “Lance wasn’t so bad,” one student said, “like, personality-wise. He wasn’t so good at piloting, but he used to smuggle me chocolate and stuff, and it looked like he actually cared about all the girls in our year.” Would you say he was a flirt, we asked, to get on the good side of so many ladies? “He was definitely a flirt. It made my ears bleed, listening to his lines. But like I said, he did actually care. Got extra rations for girls that needed them, sweets, pads – you name it. Once, I saw him at the end of a braid train doing a fishtail into this one girls hair. He was a good dude.”_

_After hearing many stories of the duo’s adventures at home, something struck us as odd. From what we’ve heard, they were quite the team. “They were.” Mrs. McClain told us. “It was a shock when Lance decided to go off to the Garrison without Veronica. I thought they were attached to the hip! I should’ve known she would follow after him soon enough.”_

_And how does Mrs. McClain feel, thinking her two children are facing the universe alone? “I have faith,” she said, “that the universe isn’t cruel enough to keep them from finding each other. Faith… faith is all we can have, in a situation like this.”_

_We couldn’t agree more. Efforts are still being made to find Veronica’s location, but in the meantime, we hope she has help out there in the stars, and that her brother can still be found._


	3. cara bel, cara mia bella

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veronica makes a friend.

“This is the machine?”

She nods, giving the humming apparatus a fond pat. “Yup. This is where the magic happens.”

“Fascinating… may I?”

“I… I guess.”

“If you’d rather I not-?”

“No, no, I’m just not used to, um, attention to my work? And this is practically my pride and joy, here, so… I mean, yes, you can feel free to mess with it a bit, just… try not to break it?”

He hums, digits ghosting over the controls. “I thought it was of Glitaun descent?”

“They built the original design and taught me how to use it, but they don’t have anything as wide-reaching as this. We’re helping each other out – they gave me the radio, and I test it out and make adjustments.”

“What sort of adjustments have you made?”

She hesitates. “… I- I’m the one who figured out how to get it on every available system, but I had their help in actually making that a reality. Also, we have this type of microphone back on Earth – it’s not powered the same, but it works a lot like this one, so I could make everything sound clearer pretty easily. Um, I made a second private channel a few days- _quintents_ ago, just in case I ever need one, and it has the same range, with half a tick faster reception because it’s not connected to that many devices. That’s… that’s about it, right now.”

He backs away from the machine and looks at her seriously. “You do realize you’re a genius?”

“… I- maybe? I’m not…”

“I would like to offer you a place on my crew, if you’d like.”

“On your-? Oh, no, no no no, I’m sorry, b-but I just- I mean, I doubt we’re heading in the same directions, right? And your crew wouldn’t want to be bogged down with my mission. But… thank you. For the offer.”

“You’re certain?”

She nods. “Really, thank you.”

“If you ever reconsider, come find me.”

“Ha, should be easy enough.”

“Indeed. I’ll take my leave.”

“Safe travels, sir.”

“And to you.”

He leaves, and as he does, he sighs into the cool air, basking in the far-off city lights and turning south-west to his own ship. “You know it’s rude to spy.”

A laugh erupts somewhere to his right. “It’s my job! Did you get the blueprints?”

“Of course. I fear it may take more than this to learn how it functions.”

“Hey, we’ve got time.”

“I suppose.”

“… And the girl?”

“As you said, we have time.” He hums. “She’ll come around.”

“She put a tracker on you.”

“Turnabout is fair play.”

“Wow, you’re actually interested, aren’t you?”

He grins. “I’d be a fool not to be.”

*

**_-TSSSHHHHHHHHH-_ **

And… we’re live. There are a few more planets in range today, so for those who don’t know what’s going on: don’t panic! I’ll return your channels the moment I’m finished, I promise.

My name is Veronica. I left my home planet a little while ago to search for my brother Lance, and this broadcast is just one more step toward that goal. Please, if you’ve seen a human named Lance, please let him know I’m looking for him. Lance, if you’re listening, just… trust in me, okay? I can find you. I’ll find you.

For those of you that are familiar with these interruptions, you’ll know this is my third broadcast, and that I just visited an inhabited planet, which is what cut short my message last time. This planet was under imperial rule, but don’t worry, I have reason to believe I’m… well, not safe, but safe enough to be able to come and go. Also, I got another upgrade! Apparently one of my wings wasn’t as sturdy as I thought, so it took some time to replace it – Galran tech, this time, so technically this type of wing is supposed to be here. Or, that’s what I’m hoping.

I also found reason to believe the radio is working just the way I wanted it to – my voice was recognized today. This planet marks the first completely clear of any signs of my brother, and the first I was actually, uh, welcomed by name. It was a weird experience, but at least it was easier to get my upgrades.

I’m orbiting the planet now, actually – I’ll be leaving once I’m finished. Sorry everyone down there! It was nice to meet you. If I could bring you guys tourists without attracting imperial attention, I would in a heartbeat, but for now a little shout-out is the best I can do.

Other than that, nothing interesting or life-threatening happened while I was silent. My home planet is… still in range, thank goodness, so at least they know I’m alright.

… Huh. What’s…? Oh.

New development: I’m a little bit dumb.

… Well. I guess turnabout is fair play. It looks like an acquaintance left me a little present. Ooh, hold on, let me just crack this baby open, uh… tools, tools, where’s the micro… ah, there it is! And… ha!

Huh, it’s not as complicated as I thought. That’s a little disappointing. Hey friend, if your listening, can you use a better bug next time? I want to take it apart! Ah well, out the airlock you go. Have fun tracking that. Now, where’s the others… for those of you listening in, it’s an earth superstition that all things come in threes, so if I find two other bugs, the ship might… be… clean! Found one! Let me see… oh, that’s a nice one! I want this part… and this one… I love tiny machines, it feels like I’m some sort of giant. The rest of this is probably trash. Out you go!

Oh, right, sorry. The broadcast is done! I’m perfectly fine, just distracted! Veronica out!

**-tsshhHH _HHHHH-_**

**_-TSSSHHHHHHHHHH-_ **

*

               - She’s being tracked? By a friend?

                              - doubt it’s an actual friend, if they’re trying to track her.

               - Am I the only one that noticed she’s being extremely careful not to let any names loose?

                              - Yeah, I wonder who she let on her ship? They had to be inside to put trackers in, right?

                                             - Why would she trust a stranger in her ship, tho?

                                             - What if it wasn’t a stranger?

                                             - she’s only been on that planet for 2 days at most, and every news article says she’s super suspicious of everyone but Lance. who could make friends w/ her in only 2 days??

                                             - frienemies?

                                             - Looks like. Remember she said ‘turnabout is fair play’? I bet she stuck a tracker on the other person too. Clever.

*

“All things come in threes?”

A snort. “Was she wrong?”

“… No. No, she wasn’t.”

“Aw. Better luck next time.”


	4. hey you with the pretty face, welcome to the human race

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veronica makes headway.

Veronica considers the small device on the stall in front of her, the combined light of two desert suns glinting off her helmet and sweat coating the back of her neck. “Excuse me!”

“Ah, something catching your interest?” A Visuet leans over to her from behind the counter, spindly six-fingered hands soaking in the heat as the rest of their body resides in the shade of the overhang.

She takes a calming breath. “That depends on your definition of ‘interest’. I don’t think I’d be able to afford something like this, but could you tell me what it’s for?”

Five green eyes pin her with a warning glare. She lets her hands fall away from the object in recognition, and the Visuet relaxes a fraction. “You may be correct; this machine is top of its class. Not many visitors recognize the use in a dust-catcher such as this, though – it’s stayed with me for as long as I’ve had this shop.”

“A dust-catcher?” She frowns at the salesperson. “What kind of dust is it supposed to catch?”

They steeple their fingers in an almost polite manner on the edge of the table nearest to her, their face coming a little closer to the object in question as their eyes light in what Veronica assumes to be pleasure- or greed. “Any sort. All sorts. They were originally used in this planet’s mines, collecting Forint particles that would have otherwise layered itself in the miners’ airways. When the mines closed, they were used in homes to keep out desert sand and dead organic matter. No one uses them these days – which makes this device an antique.”

She sighs softly, just soft enough to seem honest. “I understand. It seems like a luxury.”

“I assure you, it is.” The salesperson nods. “But as I said, no one seems to appreciate it anymore.”

Veronica tilts her head. There are several ways to get what she wants, but only a select few could work on a person whose livelihood depends on a desert shop in a nearly forgotten market. “… Like I said, I would never be able to afford something like this, but… maybe we could arrange a trade?”

She has their full attention now. “What sort of goods are you willing to trade? I don’t see anything but a toolbelt with you.”

“The sort of trade that will probably lean to your side.” She places a hand on said toolbelt. “Goods for services rendered. Say… I fix a few things you need fixed, and you give me that little dust-catcher when I’m done.”

“And what if I don’t need anything fixed?”

She shrugs. “Then you could ask me to upgrade something, or neither of us gets anything. Mechanical labor is the only thing I can offer without starving myself.”

The Visuet hums. It’s a doubtful sound, and those stunning green eyes consider her for a few moments. Veronica holds her ground. “I see. Perhaps there is something you could do for me.” They nod to themselves and gesture her over to the other side of the table. As soon as she’s under the overhang, the salesperson flicks a switch on the underside of the display, sending a thick, dark barrier around the table perimeter and keeping all the items from view. She watches them disappear with detached fascination and follows her new trading partner to the shrouded back of the stall.

There are more items here – broken items. Shelves and shelves of broken items. The Visuet turns to her. “If you can make any two of these junk heaps into something I can sell, the dust-catcher is yours.”

Her fingers begin twitching. “Before I start… what’s your name?”

“Nerruih.”

Veronica grins. “Not to sound braggy or anything, but Nerruih, I’m gonna make you _rich_.”

*

               - There hasn’t been a broadcast in a while…

                              - chill, she said earth was getting close to the edge of her range anyway

                                             - I thought she said she was going to stay within range??

                                             - I heard that too!

                                             - No guys she said she “might orbit” not that she actually would

                              - Maybe she’s in trouble? She was being tracked

                                             - yeah, by a weird stranger that got on her ship. suspicious.

                                             - She disabled those trackers on air tho?

                                             - It’s possible she didn’t get all of them.

               - It’s been DAYS since her last broadcast, WHERE IS SHE? DID SHE DIE?

                              - Dude I s2g if you joke about Veronica dying one more time I’ll personally ban you.

                                             - [This users comments have been disabled]

                                             - I WARNED YOU >:V

                              - She’s gotta be out of range. No way she’d die that easy.

*

**_-TSSSHHHHHH-_ **

There we are. Hello to the new planets in range today! I’ll return your communications in a moment, don’t worry. First, I want you to listen: my name is Veronica. This broadcast is for my missing brother, Lance – he disappeared from our home planet a while ago, and this is the best way to reach him quickly.

*

               - OH MY GOD ITS HAPPENING

                              - c h i l l o u t

                                             - HOW CAN I BE CHILL VERONICAS ALIVE

*

“I wasn’t aware we were still in range?”

A pause. “We weren’t, sir.”

“Think she made another upgrade?”

“It’s possible.” A hum. “… She works faster than I thought.”

*

There are around eighty-three new inhabited planets within range, thanks to a good trade on the planet I just visited – everyone that’s heard of me before, especially the people on earth: I’m perfectly fine, I just took a small break from my search to do a few favors for a good friend. For everyone new to my broadcast: I’m really, _really_ sorry about disrupting everything, but please understand, my brother takes priority. The second he’s found, I’ll stop broadcasting. I get search updates on every inhabited planet I land on – I will know when he’s found.

*

“Remarkable. Has anyone locked on to the signal yet?”

“It is undergoing distortions – we are on our third attempt now!”

“Create a private communication once we manage. Any friend of Voltron is a friend of ours.”

*

Since there are so many new planets, I’ll cut this one short and give you all time to recuperate. I’ll begin again whenever I can, so please be patient with me. Remember, I’m looking for my human brother, and he responds to the name Lance – wow I make him sound like some lost puppy. Lance, if you can hear me, I promise I’m perfectly safe, and I’ll be with you soon. Veronica out.

**_-TSSHHHHHHH-_ **

*

               - EIGHTY THREE

                              - this gets more like a weirdo scifi with every update

                                             - Are you kidding? This is the most interesting thing that’s happened in YEARS

               - whole galaxys after this boy by now #prayforlance

                              - everyones looking for lance but hes just chillin on some paradise planet w/ no idea that his sisters comin for him #prayforlance

*

**[TWO-WAY COMMUNICATION REQUEST]**

“What in…? Activate vocal communication only.”

**[TWO-WAY VOCAL COMMUNICATION ACTIVATED]**

“Who is this?”

“Pardon me, Ma’am, this is Hub Director Lyrna. Our leader believes we have information on the one you’re searching for.”

“… What kind of information.”

“If I may, Lyrna?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

Someone clears their throat. “Greetings, friend. My name is Ryner, leader of the Olkari. I have much to share with you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time on 'self indulgent oc insert': the boy you've all been waiting for.


	5. the fabulous... most groovy... bellbottoms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance gets some news.

**[REQUEST SENT]**

**[REQUEST GRANTED]**

“Morning, Hub. This is _Caleta_ , requesting landing coordinates.”

“We read you, _Caleta_.”

“Lyrna! How’ve you been?”

“Functioning without sleep for two quintents now, unfortunately. Mostly due to your arrival.”

“Yikes, sorry about that. I’m here now! Didn’t see a single ship on the way, either.”

“You are horribly lucky, Veronica.”

“I know! So, where am I setting down?”

“There’s a landing pad prepared a small distance from Hub itself. Sending coordinates now.”

“… Got it. So, am I good enough for a welcoming party?”

“Enough for Ryner herself to greet you.”

“Ha, you guys spoil me. Okay, estimated arrival time is seven dobashes. See you soon.”

“And you, my friend.”

**[COMMUNICATION ENDED]**

*

“Lance, may I speak to you for a moment?”

“Uh, yeah, what’s up Princess?”

“The Olkari have informed me of an… alarming situation. I fear your reaction may not be a good one.”

“Uh… huh. What is it?”

“Perhaps it would be easier to show you. I’ve recorded the conversation at Leader Ryner’s request. Would you mind sitting down?”

“Sure? Uh, should we get the team in here? If something’s going on with the Olkari, we should all know about it, right?”

“This is not about the Olkari – at least, not fully. Just… listen.”

*

               - ANXIETY LEVELS ARE AT MAXIMUM

                              - dude its only been six days

                              - THAT’S THREE DAYS TOO LONG

                              - Chill tf out

*

“Hold up. Allura, wait, stop the recording.”

“Lance?”

“No. No, no, she can’t… rewind it. Rewind it, I didn’t hear right.”

*

                              - She’s got a ton of planets tuning in now course she doesn’t wanna broadcast too much. Be patient.

                              - I AM WORRIED

                                             - she’s fine! Chill tf out!

                                             - GUYS I THINK I NEED A VACATION

                                             - Same.

*

“No, I’m- I’m just confusing names. I’m really sorry, I just-“

“Lance. Sit and finish the recording.”

“Allura, I’m serious, I’m not hearing things right. That’s the second time-!”

“If this is your reaction, I think your hearing is perfectly fine.”

“… What?”

“I apologize. I didn’t think you would believe me if I told you plainly. Lance, there have been broadcasts sent through a significant portion of your galaxy as well as surrounding systems, and shared throughout other galaxies due to the invasive nature of them, from a human named Veronica.”

“Allura, if this is a prank, it’s really not funny.”

“I would never joke about this. This girl claims to be looking for her brother, and when the Olkari received and understood her message-!”

“Vivi is _not_ in space! She- she’d never go to space, she’s the one that always wanted to stay home, she _hated_ every time I went back to the Garrison after vacation. She would never want to be out here!”

“… I’m not trying to lie to you, Lance, but what are the odds that anyone else would know you came from Earth, not to mention had a sister named Veronica? You know your sister, correct? What are the odds that she would want to follow you when you left Earth, as Pidge did?”

“She shouldn’t even _know_ I’m out here! No one knows! You think I had time to say goodbye?”

“I cannot think how your sister would know where you went, but that does not change the fact that someone is claiming to be her, and is continually asking for you by name.”

“It’s a fake. It has to be.”

“And what if it isn’t?”

“Allura-!”

“Lance. My family is _gone_. I’m not trying to give you false hope, but I know if I had the chance you may be getting… I would regret not taking it. If this person really is your sister, would you still want to leave her there?”

“ _No_! But-!”

“It is your choice, Lance. No one outside of this room knows.”

“… I… Can we… can we contact them? I wanna make sure.”

“Of course.”

“… Allura?”

“Yes?”

“… You’d tell me if this was fake, right?”

“Truly? I don’t believe it is. I wouldn’t even have known you had a sister if we did not live in the same castle. No one would know enough to be able to impersonate her.”

“Right… you’re right. Thanks, Princess.”

“Don’t thank me yet. We still have to contact them.”

“Yeah. Let’s do it.”

*

_Caleta_ ’s fang-like body touches down gently on the landing pad, engines slowing to a low hum and then cutting off. Veronica stretches in her seat for the fiftieth time since she began her two-day journey to Olkarion, wincing as her spine pops in ten different places, and stands in the small area of what used to be a Galran escape pod.

Trekking the few feet between the pilot seat and the door is the most exercise she’s gotten in two days and she relishes it, taking the time to tie her unruly hair back as she goes. With a quick elbow application to the sensor, the door slides open smoothly.

The air on Olkarion is clean and clear – it floods her ship in a wave, as if the machine itself is taking a well-deserved breath. She sees trees as thick around as her home on Earth taking up more of the horizon than the sky itself, and vines have wound around the landing pad in a perfect circle, like the very nature of this planet is welcoming every new arrival. Just looking out at the scenery makes her want to lay down and rest.

“Welcome, my friend.”

She grins, turning to face her welcoming party. “Lyrna! Ryner!”

Ryner grants her a small nod of acknowledgement. “Veronica. It is nice to finally meet you in person.”

Lyrna, however, frowns at her. “Is this why you have not allowed full connection recently? When was the last time you rested?”

“Around the last time you did.” She shoots back. “Besides, flying in empty space isn’t really a workout. It’s just boring.”

“Did you not set an autopilot?”

 She shakes her head. “I haven’t gotten around to fixing it yet. It keeps trying to bring me back to Earth; I think I’ll have to remove the entire program and replace it so it can’t lock like that anymore.”

“Veronica,” He’s scolding her now, “you must make the time to rest. Your presence here should not have been put above your health!”

“I’ll make all the time I’ll ever want as soon as this mess is over.” She sighs, turning to Ryner. “Has the Castle responded yet?”

“They have.” Ryner waves the other two forward and begins walking toward the Hub building; they follow without question, with Veronica glancing back once to make sure her ship’s door closed behind her. “Princess Allura contacted me just a few vargas ago. As you suggested, we made sure to record our conversation for your brother as proof of our claim. Unfortunately, they have not initiated any more contact.”

“They will.” She says, confident. “If the Princess keeps her promise to show it to him, they will.”

“What is your plan?” Lyrna frowns at her. “I know you were worried for your brother’s reaction. Should we prepare something?”

“Nah, the only preparation going on is the emotional kind.” She grimaces. “I can already tell he’s gonna be mad at me. At least he’s not a prisoner or anything – then he’d be mad _and_ malnourished.”

“Why would he be upset?”

“Lance is the type of guy that wants to take up everybody’s problems just so they don’t have anything to worry about. Him knowing that I’ve been flying solo for the last month or so? It’s gonna drive him up a wall.” Veronica sighs. “And then he’s gonna get depressed because he’ll think there was a way to figure out what I was doing earlier, then he’ll be back to being mad, and eventually I’ll have to pick a fight with him so he can get it all out without accidently hurting himself, and _then_ this mess will be officially over.”

Ryner huffs out a laugh. “It seems you know him quite well, to predict all that.”

“He’s my best friend,” she responds. “Always has been.”

They stop before a pair of sliding doors. With a wave of a hand and three more steps, their small group arrives at the Hub.

To say the Hub is advanced technology is understating things. To step inside the building proper is like becoming one with a personal computer: everything is geometric, with winding lights in the multiple floors and screens upon screens casting multicolored gradients on the walls opposite… yet, the place is surprisingly open. Bright. There are long windows facing out into the towering forest beyond, and between the meticulously organized and graphical floors there are staircases twisted and bent from growing trees. The energy in the building – that of the workers stationed there – is one of thriving curiosity and almost manic happiness. Veronica suddenly has the intense need to _build_.

Ryner leads them to the fifth floor, slowing every once in a while so Veronica can marvel at how the staircases weave around and into the platforms they stand on, and presses a finger to a section of the wall.

Web-like light splinters out from the leader’s finger, and Veronica’s breath catches with wonder as she watches the wall part seemingly on its own, detaching from itself and reorganizing so that, when Ryner removes her finger, the wall is simply gone. As if it never existed.

Veronica lets out a low whistle.

“Leader Ryner!” Someone greets them as they step into the room beyond. “You’re just in time – the Castle of Lions is requesting contact!”

She nods and turns to the other two. “Would you like to be present?”

“Is that even a question?” Veronica huffs. “Let’s do it.”

*

               - Didn’t she say she’d stop broadcasting if she found Lance?

                              - multiple times. Maybe she did it?

                              - God I hope so. #prayforlance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tune in next time for that sweet sweet reunion. Will it be sweet? Will Veronica fall short of glory? Will I ever stop talking? Who knows!


	6. i bless the rains down in africa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And a wonderful b-day to hyperInactive, who deserves appreciation.

_The moment she saw the two officers at the door, her heart stopped. They wore solemn, almost apologetic expressions, and asked her to get her mother._

_The moment she saw her mother break, the world stopped. Her brother was gone, missing, presumed dead. The Garrison was his dream, and he had finally gotten to train as a real pilot, there was no way he would just leave. Not without saying something. Not without telling his family goodbye._

_When Mamá was leaning against the kitchen counter, Veronica was there with her. She couldn’t take it. She wouldn’t. But her body wouldn’t move for her when she asked, her mind wouldn’t buzz with plans to get him back. She could only sit, staring at the still-moving world beyond the window and thinking maybe… maybe this was it. Maybe, without Lance, this was as far as her life would go._

_The moment Mamá looked at her, the world began turning in earnest again. She made a decision, seeing the forced determination in her eyes, and so she coined some fantastic lie that had her away from home with trusted friends for three weeks, something about soul searching and road trips. No one really believed it, but they let her go anyway._

_Her brother was missing, not dead. Her mother was mourning, but not broken. Veronica was still, but no longer._

_The moment she found the truth in the Galaxy Garrison archives, she was no longer afraid. It took no time at all to decide what to do. Her brother was in space, and she was going after him. She broke in to where the archives said the crashed ship had been taken, and for two weeks she hid in that garage, disabling the security cameras every night and working tirelessly, exploring the parts that were broken, holding off on the parts that weren’t. The thing was being kept for storage – no one wanted to touch it, not yet. No one noticed that, one day, it wasn’t quite broken anymore._

_The moment she found out where Lance had been all this time, life began again. He was okay, with a team of pilots, geniuses, fighters, friends by his side. The Olkari were very insistent upon that point: everyone with a connection to Voltron is trustworthy. They’ve kept him safe so far. And she was going to keep him that way._

“Greetings, Princess Allura.”

“Greetings, Leader Ryner.” From her spot behind Ryner, Veronica could see that Allura was like no one she’d ever seen before. Beauty shines through every curve of her face, every part of her lips; yet, there’s a viciousness hidden behind focused intensity that was hard not to admire. Lance must have been overjoyed to meet her. “The Blue Paladin has decided to listen to your claims himself.”

Lance steps into the frame, and for the first time in months, Veronica relaxes. He doesn’t even look any different – still wearing his favorite jacket, still has the same style hair, though it’s growing out a little. He’s the same.

“You said you know where my sister is.” He hasn’t seen her yet. She must not be close enough. “Is she with you? Is she safe?”

Ryner gives the screen a small smile and waves Veronica forward. “She arrived a few moments ago, perfectly healthy.”

She takes a deep breath, and steps into view.

His eyes widen, and he gasps. For a few seconds, they just look at each other – she doesn’t even realize it when she starts smiling, grinning fit to burst, but there’s an emotion in her voice that hasn’t been there for a long time. “Hey, big bro.”

Lance takes a breath. “ _You followed me_? You-!”

“Don’t freak out!”

“Don’t freak out? _Don’t freak out_? My little sister went to space _alone_ and you’re telling me not to freak out? How did you even get out here?”

“Stole a ship, it’s not important-!”

“ _There were not ships on Earth! That’s the point!_ ”

“… There was one?”

“No there-… Shiro’s escape pod. You stole Shiro’s escape-! You _fixed_ Shiro’s escape pod?”

“They told us you were dead, Lance.”

“I-!” He stops, processing. “… Really?”

She nods and looks back on the miserable few days before she left home. “Mamá was heartbroken. They didn’t even have a body to show us – we thought you died in a ditch somewhere, with no one to put you to rest. No one was even _looking_.” He looks hurt at that, and she bites her lip. “They wouldn’t let us look. We weren’t even allowed to come get your stuff.”

“… Are the kids okay?”

She shakes her head. “They weren’t when I left. No one was.”

After a short pause, the Princess steps back into the frame. “Veronica, I’d like to extend an invitation to you. Will you come to the Castle of Lions?”

Veronica snorts, cheering up a little. “Do you really have to ask?”

“This talk isn’t over, Vivi!”

“I know, I know!” She grins. “It’s good to see you again, bro.”

Lance sighs, relaxing. “You too, Vivs. You have no idea how much I miss home. Everything’s so big and open out here.”

“Don’t forget quiet,” she says. “I heard you have your own team?”

“Yup. Hunk, Pidge, Keith, Coran, Allura… and Shiro.”

She recognizes that tone. Takashi Shirogane, Lance’s _idol_ , and apparently helping with the same mission? It sounds too good to be true, but… that pause didn’t sound nearly as good. It’s probably best to let that one go. “Keith? Like, _nemesis_ Keith? The same Keith that-?”

“Okay, whoa, let’s not air that out _now_!”

“But you said-!”

He shushes her. “I know what I said! I only told you ‘cause I didn’t think you’d ever meet him!”

Veronica gasps, grinning. “I’m meeting _the_ Keith! Finally – do you know how long I’ve been saving all your embarrassing stories? _Years_ , Lance.” He looks horrified. “You never brought anyone to meet me and now they’re all coming down at once! I’m going to ruin you, bro!”

“Have mercy?”

“Never.”

“W-well! I can air out all _your_ junk too!”

“What junk?”

“Like…” His face scrunches in thought. “Like…”

“Uh-huh.”

Abruptly, he smiles. “Like the hayride.”

“… You wouldn’t dare.”

“Wanna bet?”

“I have more stories than you.”

He scoffs. “I’ve known you all your life. I can go back to baby years if I wanted.”

“I don’t like you anymore.”

“Love you too sis.”

“Yeah, yeah. Jerk.” She sighs, looking around. The room had mostly emptied out while they were talking – she didn’t even notice. The only people left are a few Olkari making sure the call stays steady, Lyrna, and Ryner. In the few seconds she takes to look away from Lance, it hits her: her mission is over. She made it. He’s safe, they each know where the other is, and after over two months they’re finally, finally going to see each other face to face. Veronica sends Ryner a watery smile. “I-I should probably stop hogging all your airspace, huh?”

“Vivi…” She turns back to Lance, sniffling. “Hey, don’t cry! You’re gonna make me cry!”

“Oh leave me alone, you were gonna cry anyway!”

“You don’t know that!”

“Uh, yeah, I do!”

Princess Allura giggles, and it spurs Veronica into drying her cheeks. The Altean leans in, sharing space with Lance. “I’ve never had a sibling; are all of them like this?”

“Ha,” she sniffs again, “we’re better than most people.”

“Best friends.” He says.

“Terrible two.”

“Disaster duo.”

“Keeping track of us is like herding cats.” She quotes by heart.

“And half as rewarding.” He finishes, grinning at her. “I missed you.”

“Same here.” She clears her throat. “But seriously, you should hang up so you guys can get here faster. I have no idea where the Castle is.”

“Will do.” Lance gives a two-finger salute. “See you soon, Vivs.”

“Hurry up so I can hug you, jerk.”

He nods.

The call ends.

*

               - think she’s in trouble?

                              - Either she lost the radio somehow, or she found him

                                             - death isn’t an option?

                                             - Like Mrs. McClain said. Existence isn’t that cruel, right?


	7. whoa, sweet child of mine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reunion.

“We can’t.”

Lance grits his teeth. “That’s not your decision.”

“We have to stay in this area!” Keith snarls. “How else are we gonna find Shiro?”

“He isn’t here! We’ve been searching for a week, Keith!” He ducks his head, hands going to his pockets. “She’s my _sister_. I’ll go it alone if I have to.”

He hears Keith sigh. “I get it, Lance. I do. But we can’t lose these coordinates without making sure, and to do that, we can’t move too far.” Lance looks up to meet his eyes. “Shiro’s our _leader_. He takes priority.”

*

Somewhere in the Castle’s underbelly, Slav tilts his head.

*

“Fine.” Lance glares. “Have fun looking at empty wreckage. I’m getting Veronica.”

“Insulting this mission is not helping!”

“Yeah? Neither is leaving my little sister alone on an alien planet! _Alone_ , Keith!” He musses his hair. “She’s been alone for who knows how long, because of the _stupid_ Empire and this _stupid_ Castle and our _stupid_ mission!”

“Our mission is not ‘stupid’!”

“Our mission let my sister think I was dead!” He shouts, and Pidge sits up from her seat on the stair, frowning. “When you drove us away from the Garrison and we didn’t come back, they told our families we died. My family thought I was dead, and she still came this far to look for me. I’m not leaving her. Not again.”

Keith stares him down. Lance doesn’t so much as flinch. “… I’m not saying we should leave her. I’m only saying that she’s not the one in danger right now. Feel free to take your lion and bring her back here, but we shouldn’t move the Castle that far.”

“Great.”

“Lance-!”

The door shuts behind him.

Keith huffs out a sigh, crossing his arms. “Pidge?”

She nods. “I’ll go with him. Be back soon.”

Allura watches the green paladin escape through the same door, shouting after Lance, and turns to Keith. “… May I ask what’s bothering you so much about this?”

He grits his teeth. “Lance never mentioned he had a sister before. We don’t know her.”

“He’s only spoken of her briefly, but if knowing someone was a prerequisite for all our friendships, I fear we’d have very little of them.” She chides.

“… Right.” He relaxes. “As long as you’re sure this isn’t gonna blow up in our faces.”

“If it does, we can handle it.”

With that, Allura turns to the ship’s controls, queuing up the green and blue lions’ communicators. “I’m opening a portal to Olkarion now. After you’re through, I will re-open the portal every varga until you return.”

“Got it, Princess.” Lance’s voice filters through. “Leaving the hanger now.”

“Right behind you, Lance.”

The two lions go through the wormhole, as they have many times before, without difficulty. Allura sighs as she lets go of the controls, pleased to note that operating the teludav gets easier with every passing day and her energy was barely affected.

She’s about to spend a few moments in the lounge, but the door slides open before she can. “Something happened!”

“What is it, Slav?”

“Our reality!” He looks around as if hoping to find whatever it was hiding in one of the corners. “There was a 10^(-107)x3.24% chance that something like this could happen, but it did! Now we are in a subset of alternate realities-!”

“Where we fail?”

“Worse! Where I do not know what happens!” Slav ignores their harsh groans, looking almost tearful. “I calculated every single possibility for every reality but I did not think this would happen! And I do not even know what changed, which makes it a hundred times worse!”

“What changed is that Lance and Pidge just left.” Keith frowns at him. “Plus, I thought looking into every reality was your thing. What do you mean you didn’t think of this one?”

“That must be it!” He looks to Allura. “Why did they leave?”

“… Apparently Lance’s sister has been trying to follow us since he left Earth. They’re going to retrieve her now.”

Slav blinks. “Oh, is that all?”

“Yes?”

“Great! I will not be blinded a second time!”

“You don’t want to know anything more than that…?”

“Hm… no! Goodbye!” The door shuts, hopefully for the last time in the next few minutes.

“… Remind me, again, why he’s still here?”

Allura practically jogs to the lounge door before anyone else can stop her. “Well. He is a genius.”

*

The two paladins look out over the swaths of green that is Olkarion, letting the wormhole close behind them as they drift forward in the planet’s atmosphere. Their comms are completely silent… or, they would be, if Lance’s leg would stop bouncing. “Pidge, mind letting them know we’re here?”

“Already done.” She smiles out at the planet in the privacy of her lion. “I’m impressed your sister made it this far. Veronica, right? What’s she like?”

Lance sighs, still on edge from his argument with Keith. “She’s like… I don’t know. She’s just Veronica. Super smart, really mellow and nice.”

“Oh, so basically the exact opposite of you.”

“Hey! I’m nice!” He pouts. “But yeah, she’s way smarter than me. But she never wanted to do anything!”

“Well,” Pidge coasts down to the ground, “I never really wanted to do anything either. Hack into the Pentagon, maybe create the first android with a personality…” She pauses. “Yeah, you’re right, those are really bad examples. Point is, I could’ve done all that, but I didn’t. I didn’t really do anything until Matt went missing.”

“And now we’re all in space.”

“Yup.” Pidge straightens as the response comes in. “Alright, we’re clear to approach.”

Lance nods, tipping into a slow dive toward the planet’s surface, ghosting over the landscape in the direction of the Hub. They’ve been there before, of course: the giant teludav they used during the fight with Zarkon was built just a little more than a mile away from the building, and they had visited the Hub itself just before they set out for their attack. He looks out over the familiar forest; they only came here a short time ago, but with Zarkon out of action and Shiro missing, it feels much longer. “Do you think she’ll go home, once she sees I’m okay?”

Pidge frowns. “Why would you think that?”

“I don’t know. You’re doing basically the same thing, right?” Lance glances down to the forest floor. “What’ll you do when you find Matt?”

“Invite him to the Castle, duh.” She rolls her eyes. “I’m not gonna leave Voltron behind. I just… want him to be safe.”

“Yeah.” He sighs. “I know the feeling.”

“… There it is.” They reach the Hub’s clearing, hovering above neatly marked platforms. “You ready?”

“Psh, of course I am.” He says nervously. “She’s just my little sister. Why would I worry?”

“You sound pretty worried right now.”

The lions descend, landing smoothly on all fours, leaning their heads forward so their paladins can step out. “I’m _not_ worried. I just… haven’t seen her in a while. I just found out she was here!”

“Relax. What could go wrong?”

Lance flinches. “Don’t jinx it! Something bad _always_ happens when someone says that!”

“Oh you’ll live.” Their channel shuts down, the lions stopping to rest. Pidge removes her helmet as she disembarks and only continues when she sees Lance step out of his lion too. The two paladins advance on the Hub together, bumping shoulders a bit when Lance looks too apprehensive.

The door of the Hub opens before they get there.

Before Pidge can so much as blink, Lance is tackled to the ground by a white-brown blur.

” _LANCE!_ ”

*

“Okay, don’t quote me on this, but I _think_ I figured out how it works.”

“Have you?”

“A lot of it’s mumbo-jumbo, but once I found the basics everything got a bit easier – this is the part that’s supposed to override every system a broadcast comes into contact with, but as long as we have a skeleton code, it’s not going to do its job as well as the original. As for how far it reaches, that all depends on the power source.”

“How far can it reach currently?”

“Let’s see… pick a random galaxy to simulate, and… _this_ is the area it could cover if we used it now.”

“… Impressive. And with a more sophisticated power source?”

“Much farther. But we’d have to re-organize the entire thing and still make sure it doesn’t blow up as soon as we turn it on.”

“Surely we are capable of that much?”

“Well, I’d usually say yes, but Glitrine is still outside our borders, so we don’t know that much about their methods, not to mention all the weird stuff she put in here that I still can’t figure out…”

“Hm. Understood. Thank you for your report.”

“Wait, this means we have to go after her, right?”

“We do not _have_ to do anything, but I’m sure an invitation would not be unwarranted.” He frowns, thinking. “The problem is: where and when do we welcome our guest?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *diabolical plotting noises*


	8. can't you tell that your tie's too white?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reunion (cont)

“ _VIVS_!”

Lance goes down, pinned by the weight of his little sister and with every limb practically attaching itself to her in the single most violent hug ever witnessed. His head thumps against the ground, there’s an elbow in his gut, and her hair is already trying to escape its binding so it can get in his face, but he doesn’t care. He keeps not caring up until the moment Veronica pulls back and starts hitting him.

“Ow! Hey- _ow_!”

“You _jerk_!” Oh, he’s so screwed. “You! Have! A! Teludav! You could have come back at! Any! Time!”

“Not the face!”

“You’re lucky I don’t _castrate_ you!”

He pushes her off, and they roll apart – Lance with the practiced ease that comes with fighting for your life, and Veronica with the familiarity of a sibling that’s been in this situation too many times to count. “I was busy! Do you know how hard it is to save a universe! It’s hard!”

“Not as hard as telling your family you’re alright, apparently!” She launches herself at him and he dodges, running the other direction. “We were worried sick! Some of us actually thought you died! You’re lucky I didn’t buy it!”

“I’m sorry!” He dodges again. “I was a little distracted with all the flying and monsters and flying monsters!”

“You _better_ be sorry!” She picks up a clump of dirt and throws it at him – it speeds just past him and breaks apart the second it hits the ground. “I can’t believe you were fine the entire time! Just- just flying around with alien royalty!”

Lance pauses. “Since when does Allura have anything to do with this?”

“I don’t know! She’s pretty!”

“You’re jealous?”

She scoops up another handful of dirt and pelts it into his gut. “Maybe!”

“ _Oof_!” He skitters away again. “If I set you up will you forgive me?”

“ _Absolutely not_. Accept your fate.”

He abruptly realizes that she might be too mad to let him off the hook this time. Lance sighs, opening his arms. “Geez. Alright, do your worst.”

Veronica rockets over and kicks his shin hard enough to make him collapse.

At this point, Pidge has to turn away just to hide her laughter. Lance’s sister is already looking at her warily by the time she stops giggling, so she reposition her helmet under her arm and holds out a hand. “Hey. Veronica, right? Call me Pidge.”

The girl’s eyes spark with recognition. “Oh, you’re that guy in Lance’s Garrison team, right?”

“Uh, girl. Sort of? It’s complicated.”

Veronica shakes her head and steps over Lance’s whining body to return the handshake. “Right, sorry. Man, I remember experimenting with pronouns. They’re tough.”

“Tell me about it. Do you know how many genders there are in space?”

“I’ve already heard of some. I’d rather just be a girl.”

“No kidding. But it is nice to have so many options.”

“Nice?” Veronica scrunches her nose. “I’d never be able to decide!”

Pidge laughs. “Have you heard any of the Galra pronouns? We met up with some of them a while ago; there’s one, Kiunt, and I don’t think the sounds for that pronoun are even sounds humans can make.”

“Oh, you’ve met Galra too?” She tilts her head. “I thought you guys were all fighting?”

“Well, we’ve been working with rebels. But Hunk got a job under a Galran restaurant owner for a day.”

“A restaurant?”

“He said it was called ‘Vrepit Sal’s’.”

“Huh.”

Lance whimpers and tries to stand. “Ugh. Pidge, does your lion have a healing pod?”

“Suck it up, you big baby.” Veronica walks over and, after his initial flinch, hugs him within an inch of his life. “You have no idea how much I missed you.”

He relaxes, returning it. “Not as much as I missed you, sis.”

“You guys are gonna give me a tooth-ache.” Pidge shakes her head. “I wanna see the Hub some time this year! Come on.”

Lance sniffles. “Gimme a sec, okay? I only found out she was here like ten minutes ago.” He pauses and pulls back. “Hey, how did you get here? I don’t think a used escape pod could go as long as you have.”

“Ha, well…” She rubs her cheek. “I might have… improved it? A little?”

“Why am I getting middle school flashbacks?”

Pidge tilts her head. “What happened in middle school?”

“Uh…”

Lance snorts. “She used to break into junkyards for spare parts. I had to cover for her.”

“Oh, hey, same here.” Pidge grins. “It’s amazing what people will throw away, right?”

“That’s what I was hoping for.” She grins back, relaxing in the friendly face of another engineer-type. “But I didn’t steal the stuff I have now!” She turns back to Lance. “I traded for it fair and square. My machines for upgrades – it worked out fine! Plus I’m pretty sure I paid for the alien equivalent of a college education for some of those guys…”

He blinks. “You were just handing out your machines? Really?”

“I had to afford everything somehow.”

“Yeah, but…” Lance sighs. “I don’t know, I guess I’m just used to being the only one to see them.” He shakes his head. “But you’re selling them! That’s awesome – what did you make?”

“Guys? Hub? Right there?”

“Sorry.” Veronica smiles. “Pidge is right; c’mon, lets walk and talk. Um, I think the first thing I actually traded away was a sonar device, because the guys that had this really cool engine attachment I wanted were also kinda in charge of providing for their village? So I traded that and got the engine pretty much the second they figured out how to work it.”

“Just sonar?”

“… There may have been a few extra things I added in without telling them.” She grins slyly. “Like heat sensors. And a bio-luminescent bait tag. I was experimenting – going without electricity is so fun, bro. It’s _so_ fun. There are power crystals and these weird fork-things that somehow harness kinetic force, and Quintessence has got to be the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever worked with in my life.”

They enter the Hub, but Pidge stays within earshot instead of immediately abandoning them like Lance thought she would. “Why’s that?”

“I’m 90% sure that Quintessence is supposed to be the junk that separates universes from each other.” She shakes her head. “It looks so simple, but it acts like a living thing! I thought it _was_ a living thing for a while before someone explained a little more of it’s nature. I still don’t think I get it, though.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Pidge jumps back into their conversation, “did you actually make something? With Quintessence?”

“Ehh…” She makes a face. “Sorta. I fused some of it with the battery of my little cleaning droid.”

“You have a cleaning droid?” She grabs her arm. “Can I see?”

“I-It’s back at my ship.” Veronica stutters, leaning away.

“We can go there!”

Lance saves his sister by putting a hand on Pidge’s shoulder. “Didn’t you just say you wanted to visit the Hub? We’ve gotta say hi to Leader Ryner first.”

“Oh.” She backs off. “Right. My bad. Hey, did you know the Olkari can manipulate atoms? Like earth alchemy!”

Veronica takes a calming breath. “I didn’t really believe it, but yeah. That’s that webby light, right? Whenever they touch something?”

“Mhm. And they managed to engineer completely organic mechanisms; we actually only met them because they launched these distress signals inside… pollen, I think it was?”

“Impressive. Geez, the things I could do with _organic_ machines…”

Lance rolls his eyes. “Alright, enough hogging my sister, she was my BFFFL first.”

“Jealous.”

“Oh, that reminds me,” her eyes gleam, “when do I get to meet _Keith_?”

*

“That’s surprising.”

“Sir?”

“A human from Earth, going by the name Lance… it fits. How likely is it that two people meeting those requirements exist outside their home planet at the same time?”

“Not very likely, I’d say! So, what’d you find?”

“I believe I’ve found our friend’s missing sibling.”

“That’s… interesting.”

“Whoa, you’re kidding!”

“Let me see!”

“I should have known someone like her would bring this much disruption. No matter; I believe our little side-project has gotten that much easier.”


	9. don't you forget about me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The last broadcast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not dead. Had top surgery. Been on pain meds for a while. Forgot to update, reminded myself to update, then spent like 2 weeks ignoring said reminder. All well, only 1 person actually reads this anyway. Hey, Hyper!

Veronica bangs a fist on the door when it doesn’t open immediately. “Ugh, I swear I fixed that already. Segador! Open the door please!”

“This is your ship?” Pidge traces one of the seams as they regroup at the vessel’s door. “It’s an interesting design.”

“Yup, _Caleta_ ’s pretty good, aerodynamic-wise.” The purple-white plating of the ship’s arrowhead wings has a strange stack to them, almost as if they’re meant to be moved in and out of their places. _Caleta_ ’s every feature seems pointed and dangerous, from the pinprick head to the powerful engines in back. Pidge could see that it would do well maneuvering above a planet, but out in space? She isn’t so sure it would keep that skill. “She’s not all that advanced, but she will be. You know, once I actually start getting top-tier parts instead of junk that belongs in an antique store. Segador! Wake up and open the door!”

Lance frowns. “’Reaper’?”

The door swishes open with an almost cheerful buzzing. “There we go. Hey, come out here, we’ve got guests!”

What comes out the door is… not what either paladin expected. The machine is reminiscent of _Caleta_ itself, except where the ship is just one fang of purple and white, this little droid is made up of five individually moving, completely separate parts connected by what seems to be a small, net-like film grafted onto the butt of each fang. Other than the faint green glow of the net, there are no lights decorating the droid, though it conveys happiness easily enough with the way it hums at Veronica as it emerges.

Pidge is immediately, desperately in love.

“Like him?” Veronica grins. “I found him on an old shop somewhere in the market of a desert planet about three days out from here. He hadn’t been functional in _ages_.” Segador whirrs over to Pidge, who ducks to admire how it moves past in a tight spiral. “I worked out a deal with the shop owner and managed to get my pick of their stock, and he was one of the things I picked up. Cute, right?”

Pidge pokes a fang. “What’s he do?”

She shrugs. “He was made for collecting airborne particles, like dust and sand? But ever since I messed around with his power source he’s been a floating menace.”

The droid floats over to Lance now and circles around his head almost playfully. “He’s the one with a Quintessence core?”

“Yeah. He’s why I got so worried over it.” She flicks Segador’s net, enticing it to twirl around and face her. “This little droid didn’t have any sort of AI other than ‘go catch that’. It made a huge difference. Isn’t that right, my little disaster?” She pokes one of the bottom fangs, and it twirls in response, humming. “He’s a fast learner, too.”

“Can I teach him something?”

She gestures to it. “Go ahead. He likes songs.”

Pidge immediately starts whistling the Final Fantasy victory theme. It takes a few tries, but the droid picks it up like a determined songbird, and soon they’re humming three different songs back and forth. Lance grins and starts whistling his own tune, with Segador picking it up in no time.

An alarm goes off.

Lance blinks down at Pidge’s helmet. “Was that the timer?”

“Oh, yeah. We should probably get back to our lions – we have about ten dobashes before Allura opens the portal.”

Veronica bites her lip. “You’re leaving already? You just got here.”

The paladins freeze. “… Aren’t you coming with us?”

“Am I even allowed? To stay, I mean.” She frowns. “The Princess offered an invitation, but… you guys are fighting a war. I’m just a… god, what’s the word? _Civilian_ , that’s it. I’m a civilian, I don’t think it’s a good idea to just... set up shop in a warbase.” She turns to Lance. “Would you even want me there?”

He sputters. “Of course I would!”

“Really. You want me, your little sister, to be carted around from battlefield to battlefield.”

“I- … Well, you could help us.” He nods. “Yeah, you could help us! Make us gadgets and junk so we don’t have to rely on our bayards – it’s a good idea, right?”

“Lance…”

“Vivs,” he sighs, “I don’t… I really don’t like putting you in danger, but honestly? I don’t wanna go back without you.” He glances at Pidge. “It’s a good idea. Right?”

It takes a moment of thought, but Pidge eventually nods. “Our bayards are really good, but they’re not always going to be able to do what we need.”

He nods back and catches Veronica’s shoulder. “Come back to the Castle with us?”

She looks between the two earnest faces of her friends, frowning. Her eye catches movement, and she looks back to the interior of _Caleta_ , and by extension Segador, who was whirring around the entrance curiously. She’d been alone for weeks and weeks now, with only her droid for company – even he had only come on board a few days ago. She’d grown fond of the ship. She found she liked being a travelling do-gooder, fixing things wherever she landed. Maybe… maybe she could manage that and still have her brother by her side.

“… Alright. Alright! Fine.”

Lance, predictably, hugs the daylights out of her in relief.

“Cool.” Pidge wedges between them and breaks up the hug. “We can have a party when we get back. Veronica, if you’re coming with, we need to get airborne in the next few minutes, so get whatever you need. Lance?”

“Got it.” He grins at his sister. “We’ll see you up there.”

She smiles back. “Yeah.”

*

**_-TSSHHHHHH-_ **

Hey everyone. No other planets this time, it’s just Earth. Listen, I’m heading out of range, and I’m going to stay out of range for a long time. I wanted to thank you all for putting up with me, and pass on some good news.

I found Lance. He’s safe. We’re both safe. He wants to help out some good people out here, and I’m gonna help him. So… that’s it. Until I’m back in range or everything’s over, this’ll be my last message.

Wish us luck, guys. This is Veronica McClain, signing off.

**_-TSHHHHH-_ **

*

               - SHE DID I T

               - I think im legit cryin rn

               - Here’s the transcript for her last message, for anyone that missed it: _tinybit.url_

               - she made it. She made it!

               - the sibs are stayin together!!!! #prayforlance

*

“Thank goodness...!”

“GO VERONICA!”

“REMEMBER TO COME BACK WHEN YOU’RE DONE!”

*

**BUZZFEED: SHE DID IT**

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH _HHHHHHHHHHHH AHHHHHHHHHHH_

               **COMMENTS:**

\- excellent journalism tbh

*

“I caught it! Last transmission has been intercepted! Phew, finally.”

“Last transmission?”

“Yeah, it sounds like she’s gonna quit after this one. See for yourself!”

“… Hm. It seems we’ll be progressing sooner than I thought.”

“This is exciting, right?”

“I suppose.”

*

Keith straightens from his spot leaning against the viewport. “What is that?”

Her brow furrows just as the blue lion’s comm activates. “A third ship?”

“Heya Princess!” Lance’s voice filters through, much more cheerful than it was when he left. “Can you open the hangar for us?”

“Of course. Am I to assume your sister is in that ship?”

“Yeah,” Pidge says, “Veronica decided to come with us. Isn’t that awesome!”

She smiles. “It is! Alright, I’m opening the hangar now.”

“Yeah,” Keith mumbles. “Just super.”


	10. is this the real life?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In celebration of the new season, Vivs and Keith have a pissing contest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GUESS WHO WAS RIGHT ABOUT HIS SISTERS NAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THATS ME B!!!!!!!!!!!!!11 OH MY GOD IM SO HAPPY

“This place is _huge_!” She shouts in the general direction of the lions.

Lance waves back. “I know right!”

It is, indeed, huge – the lions take up the most space in this room, a huge, collapsed black lion in the middle with four others in different sections of the hangar, but there are other things here too: an outfitted fighter, two regular ships, and a row of one-person atmosphere shields. Everything is a gleaming white and blue, but the lights, however bright they may be, don’t make her eyes sting when she looks around.

Segador whirrs out, spinning and bobbing in this weird new place he’s found himself in, and she pokes one of his spires out of habit. She doesn’t notice the elevator door to the hangar opening, but she hears the slight gasp of surprise that comes with the new arrival.

“ _You_ are the source of this disruption!” In the time it takes to blink, there is an alien in her space. She steps back as they poke one of their many hands into her chest. “And what exactly do you think you are doing here?”

“Uh.” She blinks down at them. “Hello to you, too?”

She hears footsteps approach, but the elevator door opens again before they arrive, and this time she sees someone step out: long black hair, short red jacket, grumpy disposition… this has got to be Keith, right? Keith sighs. “Slav, what are you doing?”

“I am examining the anomaly!”

“Quit bugging my sister!” Lance takes up his place beside her, Pidge following closely behind. “Vivs, this is Slav. He talks a lot, but he’s not usually this rude.”

She nods. “Nice to meet you.”

“And _this_ ,” he continues, “is Keith.”

Veronica bites down a comment as she turns her attention to the other boy, but any jabs she may have made abruptly die out when she realizes just how intensely Keith is glaring. She tilts her head a bit, a spark of anger in her gut – he’s sizing her up. As if she wasn’t invited, didn’t _deserve_ to be here after the amount she’s traveled. That… that just won’t do.

Adopting a pissed-off aura is easy if one practices enough, and Veronica spent so much time fending off the people that underestimate her craft, underestimate her _anger_ , for such a look to be second nature. His eyes widen when he sees the challenge, but he does see it; they examine each other in the few seconds of silence after Lance’s introduction. Thin, lean, athletic, Keith could probably hold his own in more than a few fights. If he decided to do something about her presence here, he would win. If she had time to prepare, though…

She raises an eyebrow at him.

He offers a hand in return, and she takes it.

“Uh. What was that?”

“Nothing.”

“Don’t worry about it, Pidge.”

The green paladin steps back. “Oh… kay? Well, if you guys are done your alpha posturing crap, I’m pretty sure Allura wanted to talk to V.”

“I was not posturing!”

“Since when am I ‘V’?”

Slav crosses his… many sets of arms. “No one is going anywhere until I know what sort of threat the anomaly brings.”

She sighs. “I’m pretty sure the only ‘threat’ I brought on the ship is Segador,” the small droid hums in response to his name, “and the most he can do is grab you.”

Slav narrows his eyes at her creation. “There are a small percentage of realities in which it does exactly that… if it pins me to the wall during a fight, there is a five percent chance I die! Thirty-five percent, if the Castle’s defenses are activated! No, we must not risk it. No matter how ingenious the design is.”

Veronica smiles. “Like it? It used to be a dust catcher from-!”

“Visun, yes, I see. Merged with enough Quintessence that it has imprinted on you, influencing the time span relative to your arrival and inducing a forty percent survival increase on your travel between Visun and Olkarion. Seeing as you arrived on the planet just over a varga ago, I suspect if you had not paused to work on this, you would have encountered a Galra cruiser halfway through your route and been captured!” He nods to himself.

“Oh, is that what I was avoiding?” She pokes the droid again. “I knew I had to wait a while before I left Visun, but I never really found out why.”

“Gut feelings are very important.” He agrees.

“Wait, so,” Lance puts a hand on her shoulder, “you understand what he means, when he babbles like that?”

She looks at him oddly. “I mean, we were listening to the same thing, right? He said if I didn’t stop to work on Segador, I might have died on the way here.”

“No one listens!” Slav moans.

“Wow, I must be really lucky. Hey, what would’ve happened if I stayed on Visun for an extra varga?”

He straightens. “With every moment you could have wasted, your survival would have decreased by 10^(-45)x1.32 percent!” Slav rubs at his chin. “I suppose you are very lucky. I predict a 15 percent increase of our chances with you on board, though I cannot be sure quite yet…”

“So… I can stay?”

“Yes, yes, fine.”

Keith stares at them. She’s starting to realize that expression may just be the way his face is. “What are you talking about?”

“Never mind.” She grins. “ _Now_ can we go see the Princess?”

Pidge snorts, but leads the way to the elevator with the rest of their newly-grown party following behind. “Are you gonna try to hit on her, too?”

“Oh, absolutely.”

Keith nearly trips. “W- really?”

“Uh, yeah?” She raises an eyebrow at him. “She’s beautiful? And hardcore? Excellent pilot, obviously, ‘cause she flies the castle, and her voice is really nice, and she’s a princess! Why _wouldn’t_ I hit on her?”

“Because… she’s straight?”

“How would you know? Have you asked?”

“Well, no, but-!”

Veronica huffs and steps into the elevator. “But nothing. Besides, my lines are way better than Lance’s.”

“Hey!”

“And I’m pretty sure it’s impossible to be completely straight in space.”

Pidge laughs as the door closes. “Yeah, but Allura isn’t attracted to humans. She says our ears look funny.”

Veronica self-consciously touches an earlobe. “Eh, maybe not then. I like my ears. So!” She takes a small head-count. “Slav, Keith, Pidge, bro… then the Princess and Hunk. And someone named Coran? How many people are in this castle?”

Keith crosses his arms and retreats to the corner of the elevator. “Why do you want to know?”

Lance frowns, but he gets an elbow to the gut before he can say anything. “If I’m gonna be fighting with you, I need numbers.”

“Who says you’re fighting with us?”

She raises an eyebrow at him. “Are you gonna turn me down? Look-” she continues before he can interrupt, “I get that Voltron is made up of freedom fighters and people on the front lines, but the way I see it, you guys need support. _Badly_ , right?” She looks to Lance, then back. “War is dangerous. If I can help enough to save some lives, then it’ll be worth it.”

The elevator stops, doors pinging open. “If you think you can help, I won’t stop you. But the rest of us have to watch our backs.” He glares. “We can’t trust everyone. Especially not people we don’t know anything about.”

Veronica rolls her eyes and steps out. “Be paranoid then.”

“Thanks, I will.”

“You came back a bit sooner than I expected,” a new voice says, laughter edging into their tone. The small company turns as a group toward Princess Allura, and Veronica just barely holds back a sigh because… she’s pretty. She’s so pretty and very much out of her league. Allura smiles at her and she nearly chokes. “Usually Pidge needs a at least a varga to get re-acquainted with the Hub.”

Lance throws an arm around his sister. “Vivs here distracted her. Vivi, this is Allura – she flies the castle and pretty much keeps everyone alive. Princess, this is my sister.”

“Veronica.” Oh man eye contact with pretty girls is much harder than she remembers. “It’s an honor to meet you; I only wish it could be at a less trying time.”

“Honor’s all mine.” She needs to compliment this woman or she is going to explode. “Ryner told me bits and pieces about your mission. Gotta say, you’ve accomplished some pretty impressive things.”

She _beams_. “Voltron has worked long and hard in the short time we’ve had. I’m pleased you managed to find the time to hear of us.”

Veronica’s about to open her big mouth again to say _‘I wasn’t just talking about Voltron’_ when she is, thankfully, interrupted by yet another third party in the form of an old, red-haired man practically strutting over to them. “So this is her, eh? She’s a bit, er, taller than I expected.”

Lance, predictably, pouts as his sister grins. “Thanks, I inherited our Dad’s height. I’ll be exactly one inch taller than Lancey here until the day we die.”

“I could still have a growth spurt!” Lance grits out. “It could happen!”

“Doubt it!” She sings, holding out a hand to the man. “Anyway, yeah, I’m Veronica.”

He takes it. “Coran Hieronymus Wimbleton Smythe at your service. It’s a bit of a mouthful, so just call me Coran. I am extremely well-versed in medical practice, culinary arts, mechanical, electrical, astromechanical, biological, and computer engineering, not to mention the occasional fisticuffs and code translation while on the interplanetary road, so if you have any questions, feel free to ask!”

“I…” She takes a minute to process all that. “… Yeah. Yeah! So you know pretty much everything there is to know around the castle, right?”

“Well, ‘everything’ is a bit of a generalization, but,” he leans away, toying with his impressive mustache a bit, then looks at her from the corner of his eye. “Yes.”

“Including the engines? The hangar? The viewport? The historical significance?”

“Yes, yes, certainly, and my grandfather build the Castle itself! So, er, also yes.”

“The kitchen?”

“He isn’t allowed in the kitchen anymore.” Pidge interrupts, and Coran deflates. “Hunk kicked him out within a few days.”

“Yes, and I had things perfectly in hand before that!”

“You were feeding us hair tonic!” Lance reminds him. “It was nasty!”

“Nunvil is not just hair tonic, and how was I to know human taste buds don’t agree with traditional Altean drink!”

A door opens to the side, drawing Veronica’s attention but seemingly no one else’s. A large, sunny teenager walks out with a tray full of… something, spots her, and freezes.

“Uh, guys? Who’s this?”


	11. spin me right round

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vivs and Keith break stuff.

Days pass.

Upon realizing that Veronica intends to stay, fighting the good fight, Allura readily agrees to loan her one of the many empty rooms in the Castle – something the girl is intensely grateful for, because if the Princess didn’t want her there, the Castle inhabitants could have easily kicked her, Segador, and _Caleta_ into the void of space and wormholed away, leaving no chance to chase after them. Whenever she dreams about that particular scenario it leaves a cold feeling in the pit of her stomach.

As things are, she is given a room just a few doors down from Lance. The first night, she woke up hardly believing the day before had actually happened, and ran into her brother in the hallway – they had both woken up to check on the other. Thankfully, that first night seemed to get Lance to accept reality, but with every night that comes, Veronica still needs to creep over to his door to check.

She eats breakfast, lunch, and dinner with everyone in the Castle, including those of the Blades that chose to put up shop in the Castle itself for some of the more imminent missions rather than their respective bases. Meeting them was… actually less exciting than she thought it would be, but they aren’t so bad. There’s a wall there, she knows; one between civilian and soldier, galra and human. She’ll learn how to breach that wall, eventually, like the rest of the team learned to.

Missions come and go for the others, but between the small crowds of people chatting and training and being generally mellow, she can feel something missing. It drives her insane thinking about it.

She avoids pursuing this train of thought by spending her days with Pidge, Hunk, Slav, and Coran. Within hours of entering the Castle, she had picked her favorite spot – which was also Pidge’s favorite spot, considering how many of her inventions and computers were littered around. They struck a deal to share the space equally so long as they can snoop on the other side of the invisible line whenever they please. The system, thankfully, works out fine… as long as Slav stays out of the way, which is not very often. Hunk and Coran drift in and out, fascinated by their work but still needing to do things elsewhere, but Slav somehow always manages to be in the vicinity whenever they’re testing something. There have been a few close calls.

Lance, she sees almost constantly. They are always, _always_ checking on each other – training, flight practice, lounging around on deck or in the kitchen, in the lab or the engine room, and it would have been very annoying back home, but… they’re both willing to overlook that in favor of appreciating that they’re together again. She knows Lance would be the first to admit it’s been a hard few months, and she wouldn’t be far behind in that regard. A little grace period could do them both good.

As for Keith, she doesn’t see him much. He takes daily flights to coordinates that don’t hold much significance to her, and she doesn’t really seek out his company anyway. She’s indifferent, and he’s suspicious. They let each other be.

Until today.

Veronica wakes up, and it’s the second time tonight. The lights are dim, but not completely out in her room, and this little detail is a comfort for some reason. Maybe her dream was about the dark of space? It’s a common nightmare, these days.

She doesn’t remember, though, and whatever the dream was doesn’t matter anyway. She’s awake now, and there’s no way she’s risking yet another nightmare when there’s a perfectly good castle to take up her time.

The sparse room, she thinks, is also a comfort – no large shadows for nightmare-induced figures to hide in. She climbs out of bed without fear and slips on her boots (they’re worn, more worn than they should be, but she doesn’t know where to find replacements) before heading out the door. The well-lit hall beyond is gleaming, empty, and silent.

She wanders. Slav might still be awake – they managed to build up a nice camaraderie over the last few days, with Veronica devoting time to the alien’s unintentionally vague warnings and Slav returning the favor by helping with her experiments when he’s not working on Castle upkeep. Still, the guy gets barely enough sleep as it is; she doesn’t want to interrupt just in case he’s actually sleeping for once.

Lance is definitely asleep; she checked on him last time she woke up, and _that_ couldn’t have been more than a varga ago. Pidge might be awake, but she’s also probably in her room. Hunk is absolutely asleep. Allura is probably, regrettably, also asleep. Coran might be up, but he also might not be, because she can never tell what Coran is doing. Their resident galra rest in shifts whenever they’re here, but she’d rather not bother whoever’s on watch tonight. Keith is… she’s not sure what Keith does at night. He’s probably glaring at a wall somewhere, who knows?

She sighs and steers herself toward the kitchen. Food, then lab, and maybe by the time she’s finished banging a few hunks of metal together more people will be awake.

It takes a while to get to an intersection she recognizes, after walking for so long, but after that it’s just a few turns to her destination.

Or, it would have been.

There’s a familiar red jacket in the next hall she enters. “Keith. Morning.”

“Mornin’.” He nods to her.

She blinks at him blearily. “Any particular reason you’re up so early?”

He shakes his head firmly. Maybe too firmly, but hey, she doesn’t really care anyway. “What about you?” The ‘are you taking advantage of this situation’ is unsaid, but she hears it loud and clear anyway.

“Oh, you know, nightmares about the void of space, and losing Lance, and being left behind, yadda yadda.” She shrugs, moving past him. “The usual. Fun stuff.”

“Are you… always so casual about it?”

She stops and turns to face him. “Yeah. I guess. Why?”

He glares, and Veronica has to physically restrain the need to roll her eyes. “Never mind.”

“You know, you’re allowed to ask.” She huffs. “I’m not going to stop being a suspicious-looking stranger if you squint hard enough – yes, I know you’re glaring, you don’t have to do it _more_ , jeez.” He doesn’t relax, but she needs to lean against the wall because she’s suddenly so tired of this. “I’m saying, if you want to start a game of twenty questions or whatever, I’m all ears.”

Keith, bless him, takes his sweet time chewing it over. “… Why did Lance never talk about you?”

“… Ouch.” She rubs absent-mindedly at her chest. “Okay. Well, did he talk about anyone in our family?”

“No.”

She waves a hand. “There you go. I’m not special.”

“You are, though.” He frowns. “You’re really important to him. Ever since you stepped on the ship, he’s been around you. Why would he not tell us anything about you, then just turn around and do that?”

“I…” She takes a breath. “Well, do _you_ like talking about your family? Back on Earth?”

“I lived alone.” And then he shrugs, like living alone is just something teenagers do. “What’s there to talk about?”

Her mind has to play catch-up. When realization finally snaps at her, everything about him makes perfect sense: she doesn’t see him much because he doesn’t want to be seen. He’s not used to it. He’s not used to people in general. He glares and postures and hangs around in empty corners because he doesn’t know how to comfortably share space in a social setting. She sees the light.

“Come on. This is suddenly not a conversation I want to have in the middle of a hallway.”

“What?” Now that she sees the light, she can see exactly why Lance likes this guy so much. He’s like the clueless otherworldly protagonist in a B-list romance movie trying to figure out everything at once while having _no_ basis to judge anything by. Kind of sad, mostly adorable. “Why? Where are we going?”

She waves him forward. “Kitchen. Was on my way there, anyway.”

“And I don’t get a say in this?”

“You want me to answer your question?”

“Yeah…?”

“Then come on.” She starts walking.

*

Lance steps in the kitchen, still yawning, and just stops. “Uh…?”

“Mornin’.” Veronica pokes her head out from under one of the counters. “Oh, Lance! Hey, did you know Keith could cook?” Keith groans from his seat, face resting against the table. She rolls her eyes. “Hey, you’re the one that said you could stay up later. This is on you.”

“Uh?” He gives the other boy a concerned glance. “What’d you do to him?”

“We made a bet.” She says, as if that explains everything – which, on second thought, it totally does.

“I tried.” Keith moans. Lance pats his head in sympathy.

“Yeah, he knows how to make crepes?” Veronica goes back under the counter, obviously fiddling with something. “I tried to make him do it, but then I remembered we only have goo, advanced goo, and weird alien food that doesn’t really go into crepes, so I tried to mess with the goo machine…”

He sighs. “You broke it, didn’t you?”

“I’m fixing it! Leave me alone.”

“I’m getting Coran.”

“… Fine.”

Keith snorts. Veronica comes out just to glare at him, and stays out when another person walks in. “Morning Hunk!”

“Morning.” He tilts his head at the other three. “Why are you guys up so early? I was gonna make breakfast.”

“Vivs broke the goo machine.”

“I’m _fixing_ it!”

“Move over,” Hunk says, going to sit on the floor beside her. “I’ve had to fix this thing like, ten different times, I got it.”

“I wanted to make it spit out crepe batter.”

He blinks. “I’m pretty sure you can’t make crepe batter out of alien goo.”

“So we can have magic flying lions but not crepes?”

“Hey, I don’t make the rules.” He puts an earnest hand on her shoulder. “We’ll find a substitute.”

She pouts and makes room for him. “I just wanted food…”

“I get it. I’ll make you crepes when we have the stuff for it.”

“Keith can make crepes.”

“He can?” Hunk turns away from the machine. “You can?”

The boy in question frowns at them. “I still had to eat in the desert.”

“Yeah, but I thought you… scavenged, or something.”

“Why would you think that?”

“No grocery stores in the desert.” He answers immediately.

Veronica grins. “He’s got a point.”


	12. i paid my dues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some of that good good Lance content we all love.

She’s in the holodeck with Coran when the next report comes in. It’s Keith, and the defeat in his voice makes her flinch. “There’s nothing out here, Coran.”

They share a look, both wincing in sympathy. “I’m sorry, Keith.”

“I’m comin’ home.”

The comms go quiet.

Veronica sighs, heartfelt. She knew something was missing from the team within the first few days living here, but… Keith was the one who finally told her what happened. The fight, the victory, the fallout. She’s glad he’s the one that told her – he needed to talk about it, she could tell. And now the coordinates he’s been flying to make sense, because that’s where their missing piece was supposed to be.

Was. But it looks like he’s finally given up on it.

She starts walking toward the red lion’s hangar, nodding to Coran as she goes. It only takes a minute or so to get there from the paladin’s entrance, but she takes the long way, walking in just as Red is landing.

The lion crouches forward as she approaches, letting Keith step out before straightening again. She looks up at it, then back. “… You alright?”

“No.” He glares down at the ground. “Feels like I’m giving up. I know he’s not dead, but I don’t…”

She nods. “He’s not there. Which means… maybe he’s somewhere else.” Keith sighs at her, so she continues. “Maybe he’ll find his way back on his own. Give it time.”

“With his luck, he’s probably in another system.”

“Maybe.” She smiles. “I’m sorry about the radio, though. If I thought-”

“I know. Calling attention to him would just bring trouble.” He shakes his head. “Let’s just… go upstairs. We have a mission tomorrow.”

She nods. “I really am sorry, Keith.”

“Yeah. Me too.”

“Want to go bug Lance?”

He smiles a bit. “I don’t have anything better to do.”

It’s the saddest thing he’s ever said to her.

*

The Puig mission is a success, because of course it is. The Kythra mission also worked out well. She spent a full twelve hours hashing out all the possibilities with Slav, and there was a miniscule chance the missions could have met anything but success. Everything turned out _fine_.

It doesn’t stop her from scanning Hunk, Lance, and the small gathering of Blade members for injuries when they get back, but it helps. Coran is already chatting with the Puig leader, who also seems relatively unharmed. Good news all around.

“Alright.” She breathes a sigh of relief when she sees there are no major injuries. “Bro, Hunk, the Princess is waiting for you guys in the lounge.” Lance gives her a thumbs up, and they walk off. “Kolivan, do you want any help?”

“No thank you.” He holds out his grazed arm for closer inspection. “We heal faster than most.”

“Any worries about infection?”

“None.”

“Alright. Get some rest – this cycle’s meeting is tonight.”

“Of course.” He tilts his head in thanks, then he and his team walk off too.

As she turns back to the remaining two, Coran and the diplomat finish their greetings and start heading towards the elevator for what she assumes is the usual tour. She takes up her place in the space beside them, introducing herself and asking the usual time-stalling questions about the visitor’s home planet while they ascend.

She learns about Puig and its extensive mountain regions, the way Puigians learned to settle in temperate areas as the seasons passed, as well as a quick history of their discoveries before the Empire came to rule their world. The representative holds a very apparent dislike of Galra – understandable, but Veronica can’t bring herself to commiserate.

The favor is returned with stories about Earth, and finding her way here. The leader seems particularly interested about the missions she’s seen.

“We’re going at a hard pace,” she says, Coran escorting them through the tour. “The paladins have freed four planets just this cycle. They’re training constantly, becoming closer as a team, and our forces are growing every day.”

“And what of Voltron?”

She swallows. “Voltron hasn’t been needed since it defeated Zarkon. The lions have things in hand for now.”

Coran sends her a grateful look, and then continues the tour as she excuses herself.

It takes a minute, but she eventually gets the bad taste out of her mouth. Being formal sucks. Diplomacy sucks. Overbearing politicians suck. Why did she volunteer to be part of the welcoming committee? Oh right, because they get to see the returning forces first. Ugh, the things she does for her friends.

She heads for Slav’s quarters. Time to run next cycle’s success rate numbers.

*

“We need to know what we’re dealing with, first.”

“Sir?”

“… The lions are freeing more planets every cycle. Collect as much information on them as you can.” He pauses. “While you’re at it, transfer the records of Haggar’s beasts to me.”

She nods.

*

“… What happened?”

“ _Keith_.” Lance grits out, mussing at his hair while Slav frowns in their general direction. “I just- I get that he’s torn up about Shiro. We all are! But it’s like he needs to bring it up in all the wrong places, and all the wrong ways!” He sighs, slouching. “He stormed out of this cycle’s meeting because the Puigian leader wouldn’t stop asking about Voltron. Ugh, I knew I should’ve warned him about that guy.”

“Have you talked to him yet?”

“… Not really. Not about the important stuff.”

She frowns at him. “You’re gonna have to do it eventually. You’re the only one he listens to.”

“He listens to the others, too!”

“But _you’re_ the one he trusts with the big stuff.” Veronica flicks her brothers’ forehead, and he yelps. “Did you really not notice? Even Allura’s betting on when you two are gonna get your act together, now.”

“Aw, Allura’s on board now?”

She shrugs unapologetically. “You’re like a brother to her, Lance. Romance was never an option.”

“It could’ve been.”

“Slav?”

The alien snorts, turning away. “Your chances would have been less than five percent when accounting for blood status, species, personal preferences, and ensuing situations. You would not have had much luck.”

“Hear that? Less than five percent. That’s the sibling bond talking.”

He kicks her chair. “Fine, whatever, so I’ll never get with the Princess. What does this have to do with anything?”

“It has to do with the fact that Keith listens to you.” She scoots back to her original spot. “He respects you, respects your ideas. If you think something’s a bad plan, he’s probably going to agree with you. Which _means_ ,” she continues when he sighs, “you’re the one that needs to bring this stuff up, or he’s just gonna keep avoiding it.”

He frowns at her. “When did you two get so buddy-buddy?”

“Crepe night.”

“You’re weird.”

“Not as weird as you.”

He flicks her arm, and she tries to slap him away. “Allura called another meeting in a varga. Wanna come?”

She makes a face, turning back to the console Slav saw fit to let her use. “I dunno. Is it a war council thing? Because I’d rather not be apart of that stuff.” Veronica’s managed to avoid being included in war meetings up until now – it’s all been ‘can you make something like this’ and ‘hey, can you pass this on to Slav so he doesn’t get carried away’. Talking about efforts and campaigning and casualties… even if the only deaths are on the empire’s side, she doesn’t like it. “Do you think I should?”

“Yeah,” he pokes at one of the dials before she can block him. “I don’t know for sure, but I _think_ we’re gonna be talking about the lions.”

She sighs. “And how one is completely unusable.”

“… Yeah.”

She looks at him. He’s got his eyes closed, an almost pained expression marring his usual cheery façade. Lounging in the edge of the console like that, it looks like the drawing in of his legs is just to keep his balance, but she knows him better than that. “… He must have been something else, to be such a great leader.”

Lance nods. “Keith’ll find him.” He unfolds, just a bit. “Man, you should’ve seen him, Vivs. He’s like a superhero. He’s so cool, and nice, and… one of the greatest leaders ever.”

“You miss him.”

“Duh.” He sighs. “But we can’t form Voltron without him, and since he’s gone…”

She nods. “I’ll come to the meeting, alright?”

Lance smiles. “Thanks sis. You’re awesome.”

“Am I awesome too?” Slav bounds into their conversation, and she’s only surprised by the fact it took this long for him to find an opening.

She snorts. “Yeah, you too. How’s scenario #927 coming?”

“I believe it has branched due to the offset of a civilian ship variable, but I have found no disastrous consequences yet!”

“Wow, miracles really do happen.”


	13. you don't want to hear me, you just want to dance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A fight.

The lounge is as gleaming white as the rest of the castle, but at least the couches are comfortable. Veronica and Lance arrive to the team meeting five minutes before it starts, but they’re not the last ones – that title goes to Keith, who walks in at the last second and takes his customary place leaning against the far wall looking more hostile than usual.

Veronica leans her back against her brother’s side, frowning at the tense atmosphere. It seems like no one wants to start this conversation, but the Princess braces herself and does it anyway.

“As you all know,” she says, and they all sit a little straighter, “Shiro is no longer here to pilot the Black Lion. As none of us know where he is, or even what happened to him, I’ve decided it’s time to select a new black paladin to lead Voltron.” She pauses. “I realize it feels like abandoning a dear friend, and I know Shiro was a fundamental part of this team, but… we must learn to go on without him, if we are to succeed.”

They all nod. Even Keith, after a lengthy pause. Lance presses most of his weight against his sister. “I just wish he were here to tell us that.”

“Allura,” Pidge looks up. “When we came here, you told me I would fly the Green lion, and I thought there was no way – but then I found it and I flew it! And Hunk flew the Yellow lion, and he’s not even a pilot.” They frown. “In fact, you told everyone who would pilot which lion.”

Hunk leans forward. “Yeah, how did you do that? Did you ever tell us how you did that? Can you do that now?”

“Sadly, no.” Allura leans back, thinking. “When you arrived at the Castle, I immediately recognized the special qualities in each of you.” She looks down. “But I don’t know how to search the entire universe for a new paladin.”

“It has to be one of the team, right?” Veronica bites her lip when Hunk makes an inquiring noise. “Well, you guys have been together this whole time… it would only make sense that the leader would be someone in this room.” She shrugs. “Do you think you’d be able to trust a stranger with Voltron? Or the team’s safety?”

“That’s a fair point.” Coran frowns. “Keith, you piloted the black lion when you had to save Shiro. Perhaps you’re the one?”

“What?” Lance leans forward. “Keith would be the worst leader of Voltron!”

“Yeah, we all have our thing!” Pidge waves a hand over their party. “Keith’s the loner, I’m the brains, Hunk’s the nice one, Allura’s the decision maker, Coran’s the wise old guy, Veronica’s the new girl, and Lance is the goofball.”

“Yeah exactly, totally right, I- wait a minute.” Veronica hides a smile. “I’m not a goofball! I’m the cool ninja sharpshooter!”

Keith scoffs. “You joking?”

She snorts.

Lance pushes his sister over and stands with a dramatic point. “I’m being completely serious when I say I don’t want you to lead me _anywhere_.”

“I don’t want to be the leader!” Keith shoots back. “That’s just what Shiro wanted!”

The room freezes.

“What…” Hunk begins, bug-eyed, “are you talking about?”

Keith just shakes his head. “It’s nothing.”

“Shiro wanted you to be his successor, didn’t he?”

Lance grits his teeth. “Well _I_ never heard Shiro say that – and how convenient that you’re bringing it up now, when Shiro is _gone_.”

“Lance-!”

“If you want the job so badly, you can have it!”

“Keith…”

“Now hang on, I called the head from the very beginning!”

“What about me? I’m the one that picked up on the radio waves that led us to Voltron in the first place!”

“ _Guys_!” Veronica pulls Lance back down into his seat and glares at the other three paladins. “Shouting is _so_ not necessary! It doesn’t even matter who wants the job or not, because the way I see it, we can’t even make a sure decision without the black lion having a vote!” She frowns at all of them. “No more shouting.”

“You-!”

“ _Lance_.”

He opens his mouth, then closes it gritting his teeth. “Fine.”

“She’s right.” Coran says, and she gratefully yields the spotlight to him. “It’s not our decision to make. We must allow the lion to decide.”

Allura nods, standing. “Yes, we must _all_ present ourselves to the black lion to see who will bear this glorious burden.”

“… Even you, Princess?”

“My father created Voltron,” she responds calmly. “How can I expect others to risk their lives in battle and not be prepared to do so myself? I must try.”

They all look around at each other. Veronica swallows. “So, that’s it? Just sit in the pilot seat and wait for it to activate something?”

“The lions are meant to work as a unit,” Coran responds. “Following that logic, the most likely candidates for the position are, as you said, in this room.”

“We already have a team,” Allura continues for him, “Now we must shuffle the pieces and make the most of a bad situation.” She looks around the room. “Paladins, let’s get to the hangar. We will have time to worry about the outcome afterward.”

They stand – most of them were already standing, but Veronica relinquishes her hold on the back of Lance’s jacket so he can join them. He glares at her in passing, and the guilt that wells up at the gesture doesn’t help anything. As the pilots head toward the elevator, she shakes her head and waits for everyone to file out, planning to take the next elevator down to Slav’s lab so she can continue working.

A hand lands on her shoulder, and she flinches. “Coran?”

“I believe you’d be welcome to come down with us.” He says. “You may have a chance, too.”

She looks at the back of Lance’s head as he leaves. “No. I don’t think I am.”

*

“What can we expect of the lions?”

“The Yellow lion is heavily armored, more so than the others, and there have been some reports claiming there is a weighted mechanism that forms on its’ claws. The Blue lion generates ice, and is more suited to planets with a dense water content, though that’s not necessarily a limitation. The Green and Red lions are smaller, but the Green lion seems to have a mastery over atomic manipulation, and the Red lion has speed and fire in its arsenal. The Black lion is the largest, with the most refined weapons as a result but no clear specialty.”

“Sightings?”

“The Red lion has been seen in these quadrants. The Green lion has been seen here, here, and here. Both the Yellow and Blue lions have been in this quadrant.”

“No Black lion?”

“We’ve questioned the planet’s inhabitants. No one has seen it.”

“It’s like it just vanished. Poof!”

“No Black lion, no Voltron. And what of our guest?”

“The beacon is ready to activate when you see fit.”

“If all goes well, we may be able to put things in motion soon. Narti, go to planet Puig and _speak_ with their leader.”

*

“Oh, dear.” Slav frowns at her as she slumps into her chair. “I knew this would happen.”

“What, Lance going into a jealous rage and bringing me along?” She huffs out a laugh. “I didn’t see it coming. Not until I was already yelling at him.” He lets her sit in silence, probably thinking of all the ways trying to comfort her could go wrong, and after a few moments she scrubs at her face, already tired enough to want to sleep. “Who’s going to pilot the black lion? Slav?”

“Hm.” He stares into the middle distance, sufficiently distracted. “There is a 74.8372% chance the Red paladin will activate the Quintessence of the Black lion. I hope it turns out that way, because we will have very slim chances of survival otherwise.”

Veronica just shrugs. “Slim chances are still chances.”

Slav frowns at her. “If we die, it will likely take another 10,000 years for another rebellion to form.”

“… Slav? What are my chances of making it home?” She shakes her head. “No, wait, don’t answer that. I don’t wanna know.”

“If you say so!”

She sighs. “Sorry. I’m just worried. I feel like something’s about to happen, but…”

He pats her arm. “Gut feelings are important.”

She smiles. “Yeah, I remember. Hey, have you had the time to examine the scenario #927 branch yet? What sort of mystery ship could actually prevent a battle?”


	14. i descend upon your earth from the skies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *BISEXUALITY INTENSIFIES*

Veronica peeks into the hangar and, seeing that it’s empty, breathes a sigh of relief.

It took forever for everyone to clear out after… well, after. It’s rare that anyone other than Coran is in the hangar for any length of time, so the others wouldn’t know how much she visits this room. It’s not important enough to interrupt whatever spiritual thing happens while the lions pick new paladins, so she waited until everyone left, and now she has run of the place.

Black is sitting upright for the first time in her memory. It looks regal, somehow, but she guesses that’s what can be expected from the leading unit of the most powerful weapon in the universe. The other lions are in their designated spots, but she can’t see them from this vantage point – besides, she didn’t come here for the lions.

 _Caleta_ has spent the last few days – weeks? – completely still. Veronica doesn’t spend as much time as she used to on the ship, but that doesn’t stop her from planning. New engines, new wings, a more aerodynamic chassis, faster travel, more firepower, better defense… this ship is one of her greatest achievements, but it’s not perfect quite yet. Not to mention upgrades for its dedicated guard.

Segador whirrs towards her, spinning so rapidly that it looks like a makeshift drill bit and circling around  her in apparent glee. She catches one of its spires and pulls it closer. “Hey buddy. How’re things going, huh?”

It hums, fangs shifting in her grip, and stabs at the air beside her hand so she gets caught in its net, metal closing around her wrist like a bear trap. She snorts and pulls at the fangs until it lets go. “Yeah, I hear you. I’m working on it, okay? We’ve gotta be careful with this stuff – I don’t wanna mess up your core.”

It twirls in agreement and bobs back towards the ship, Veronica following closely behind.

“Veronica?”

She gasps in surprise and turns, recognizing the voice but still not expecting it. “Princess! I- uh, I thought everyone left already?”

And then she gets a better look.

Allura, for the short time they’ve known each other, has always presented the air of someone that has long since risen above sadness; she’s mourned and grieved and lost, but it always seems like she’s gotten past her struggles. She’s strong and brave, an unconquerable leader in her own right, and Veronica has never seen her show an ounce of actual weakness.

The Allura that greets her now is still all of those things, but she’s… not. Her eyes are gleaming, and there are dried tear tracks on one part of her left cheek that she may have forgotten to scrub off. Her shoulders had been hunched, now quickly tightening in the face of another person, but her posture remains strangely unsteady. This Allura is not the princess that remembers sorrow – this is the princess in the midst of it.

“They have.” Her voice is unwavering. “I wanted to stay behind and test something.”

“Oh.” She nods. “Right. Sorry.”

The woman smiles. “No need to apologize. I didn’t intend to frighten you.”

“I was just surprised.”

“Of course.” Allura nods. “I was just about to go up to the lounge, if you would like to join me?”

She shakes her head quickly. “I wanted to make sure _Caleta_ was alright first.”

“Oh. Alright then. I’ll see you another time.”

Veronica steps forward before the Princess can turn away fully. She stretches out a hand due to habit, but lets it fall short – you can’t just casually touch someone like Allura. But it gives the other woman pause. “Listen. Um. Do you need anything? A distraction? A hug? Anything.”

She straightens. “I’m fine, thank you.”

“Not as a disrespect! Just- ah,” Veronica tugs at her hair, cringing back a bit. “I’m not saying you need it, I just… whatever it is, I want to help. We girls have to stick together, right?”

Allura stares at her for a moment, then takes a deep breath. “… Thank you. I appreciate the thought, but I’m afraid there’s far too much to do before I let myself get carried away.”

Veronica steps back. “Right. Sorry.”

And then Allura touches her shoulder. “I do appreciate it.”

“Eh, you’re practically a general.” She smiles. “I get it.”

The Princess nods, standing a little taller. “Another time, then.”

“See you.”

Allura walks away, and Veronica watches as she steps into the elevator, door closing behind her.

As soon as she’s out of sight, the girl wheezes dramatically with a hand over her heart. Segador bobs around her, seeming concerned.

*

“While we’re waiting… who gets to go get her?”

“We’ll retrieve her _after_ the beacon is activated. Focus.”

“I know, but none of us have ever been in an Altean castle before! Who gets to go?”

“I will.”

“It doesn’t matter who goes, they’ll be here soon.”

“But I want to go!”

“Enough squabbling.” He frowns. “You’ll both go.”

“Yes!”

“Fine.”

*

 _Caleta’s_ pilot seat is a bit more ragged than she remembers – probably because it hasn’t been cleaned since her two-day beeline for Olkarion. Regardless, it’s familiar and comfortable, more so than her quarters and Slav’s lab, so she kicks her feet up on the deactivated control panel with a tablet and begins brainstorming.

Her notes, when she takes time to write them, are in an unhealthy-looking mix of shorthand, English slang, Spanish slang, and an unidentifiable number of doodles. She’s pretty sure Lance is the only one in the universe that could decode her scrawl, and that’s only because he was there while she was learning to write in the first place.

She looks over the pages containing her plans for the wings (written while half asleep) and crosses out some of the less than helpful bits about Earth birds and synthetic feathers, trying to keep from being distracted by how cool a synthetic bird spaceship would look flying through space. It would look so cool. Birds look so cool. But no, bird wings are not meant for interplanetary travel… right? Right. She might be able to get away with having a synthetic fish spaceship, but definitely not a bird. Yeah.

How cool would a lionfish spaceship look? So cool.

She doesn’t realize what’s going on outside until she hears one of the hangar doors open. Black is the closest lion, so she notices when it suddenly disappears from view.

“Uh?” She looks around, crowding against the various inactive switches of _Caleta’s_ control board. She stays like that for a few minutes, trying to figure out if she can see any of the other lions, before she bites her lip and exits her ship.

Allura sprints past, heading for the blue lion’s hangar. “Hey! Princess!” Veronica runs to keep pace with her. “What’s going on?”

“I’m afraid we’ve been led into a trap!” They pass by the red lion’s hangar, and she can see the blue lion surrounded by the light of a particle barrier, Lance standing on the outside. “The Puigians fell to the Galra and called us for assistance!”

Veronica curses, turning back toward her ship while Allura practically flies to the blue lion’s hangar. If she hadn’t been so caught up in moping, she might have actually picked up the warning signs while she was in Slav’s quarters. Stupid, stupid!

She crashes back into the pilot seat, activating the controls for the sake of power and, almost instantly, is tuned in to the lion’s communication channel. Pidge is cursing up a storm, Keith is shouting nonsense at his lion, and Hunk’s vocals come across as grunts and audible winces as the three paladins fight. She can already tell they’re in over their heads, and she butts in just as Pidge shouts another curse. “Guys! Can you hear me?”

“We read you!” Keith growls. “Where is Lance!”

“He’s on his way.” Hopefully. She fiddles with her radio, unused since her final transmission to earth as she listens in on the fight. “I’m gonna try to disable enemy communications! How many warships are out there?”

“Just the one!” Pidge shouts. “The rest are all fighters!”

“Great!”

“Great?”

Veronica flips a previously-untouched switch inside the mechanism. The radio hums with stored power. “Fighters are usually AI controlled and have a single link to their battleship! If I can disrupt that link-!”

“They stop being organized!” Pidge gasps.

“It won’t last forever, but it should give you a few minutes at least!”

Keith grunts in strain. “Do it!”

She pulls the dimensional viewing up and zooms quickly on their location in space, targeting the large ship just a little ways away. It takes half a second to find the link source.

Veronica activates the disruption code and sends it off.

There’s no loud bang, no sign that it had worked at all, but she hears the three paladins huff almost simultaneously.

“You’re showing me how you did that when we get back!”

“Keith, what do we do? There’s still too many of them!”

“Alright, we need to attack the ship!”

“Can you be more specific? We need an actual plan!”

There’s a beat of silence, then all three of them shout in alarm. Keith’s voice takes her attention, his ragged breathing echoing over the comms.

“Keith!”

“I’m okay!” He groans. “We can’t fight this guy alone!”

Veronica straightens, ready to start _Caleta’s_ launching sequence, when a familiar voice stabs through the din of battle. “You won’t have to!”

It’s Lance.


	15. work in our smiles instead of our frowns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We all love Hunk here.

The fight ends unexpectedly.

The Castle takes a hard hit, and Veronica hears the particle barrier fizzing through her ship’s open door. Allura, in a shocking turn of events, flies the blue lion out into the fray.

And then everything just… stops. They fire down the last of the still-uncoordinated fighters while the rest disappear into space alongside their battleship. It’s anticlimactic and not at all subtle, and while the paladins offer Allura congratulations, Veronica shuts down her ships’ power and jogs to the elevator outside, because everything in her is saying that something is _wrong_.

When she steps out again, the hall, and subsequent room she was looking for, is empty. “Slav?”

Something bangs to her right. Slav’s head peeks up from under his console. “Is it over?”

“It shouldn’t be.” But she nods anyway to calm him. “The fighters pulled back as soon as all five lions got out. Why?”

He tilts his head. “Perhaps they were testing?”

“Why would they need to test, though?” She tugs at her hair. “Pidge said it was just a battleship! We’ve seen tons of those before, right? Why would they need to test us now, when they already know what the lions can do?”

“Are you certain it was a battleship?”

She pauses. “… No. They just said it was a battleship, not… there were no specifics.” Of course there were no specifics, they were in the heat of battle! There was no time to share if the other ship was weird-looking or not. “I need to ask them. But we won the battle, Lance is flying the red lion and Allura’s in Blue. Alright?”

Slav crawls out from his hiding place. “I will adjust my calculations!”

“Great.”

She turns and paces back to the elevator. She needs to catch Pidge before anyone has the chance to leave the hangar – the elevator isn’t in use, so maybe she’s lucky. In the short drop down, she pulls out her tablet and queues up this cycle’s scenarios, marking everything that doesn’t include today’s battle off the list of viable realities they could be in. Since realities are infinite, keeping note of them might be moot point, but at least she feels like she’s doing something.

The doors open to the hangar. Hunk steps in as Veronica steps out, giving her a cheerful wave. “Hey V, that thing you did with the fighters? That was awesome.”

She catches the door with her foot. “Thanks man. Is Pidge still in here?”

“Yeah, she should be by Green. Why?”

“I need to ask her something.” She lets the door go. “Actually-!” Her foot jams the door again. “Hey, was there anything weird about the battleship? Anything.”

“Uh, yeah.” He scratches his chin. “It wasn’t shaped like the usual stuff. Actually, it looked kind of like an Earth jet?”

She blinks. “… Really?” Why does that sound familiar?

“Yup. Weird. But uh, that was probably ‘cause it was Lotor’s ship.”

“Hold up, say again?”

“Yeah, apparently Zarkon has a son?” He shrugs. “Like I said, weird. Also, kinda creepy, I do not want to think about it too hard.”

“And his name is… Lotor.”

“Mhm?”

“… Okay. That’s… great.”

He leans toward her. “Um, do you need to sit down?”

“I’m good. Um. I just need to… adjust my opinions… on some things…”

Hunk steps back, concerned. “Wanna ride up with me? Get some brain food?”

She nods silently. He makes room in the elevator and she steps back inside, the doors closing almost immediately as Hunk selects the floor with the kitchen – floor eight? She peeks at the screen. No, floor ten, right next to the paladin quarters. Right.

“So… what’s going on with you and Lance?”

“Huh? Oh,” she flashes back to the argument in the lounge, “right. Nothing really, that was just a… we’ve had worse fights, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“I think it’s really stressing him out.” He says, and the elevator doors ping open. “We thought you were right behind us when we were testing out Black? But when he saw you weren’t there he just sorta… folded.”

She shakes her head and follows his lead to the kitchen. “It happens sometimes. You should’ve seen the fight we had about him going into the pilot program back at the Garrison.” Veronica smiles a bit, remembering. “We were so mad at each other that we forgot language barriers were a thing.”

“I hear ya. Sometimes I’m so tired I start speaking Tagalog instead of English?” He shrugs. “I asked a lunchlady for a breakfast burrito once and she said something back in Mandarin and we just sorta… stared at each other until Lance started laughing at us.”

“I hate when that happens.” She laughs. “I once almost accidently sent a shipping order _entirely_ in Spanish and had to spend ten minutes translating it to English.”

“Why’d it take ten minutes?”

“I forgot the word ‘tube’.”

He snorts. “Oh, once I forgot the word ‘trashcan’ and had to spend, like, half an hour doing charades. Unrelated note, but Pidge is super bad at charades.”

“I feel your pain.”

He claps a hand on her shoulder, dramatically tearful. “No one understands.”

“I know big guy.”

“You’re the only one that gets me.”

She laughs. “Alright, I think that’s going a bit far. I can’t steal my brother’s bro-ship, he’d strangle me.”

“Oh he would not.”

“He might.” They enter the kitchen, Hunk immediately going to the weird Altean fridge while she leans against the counter. “… I didn’t know he wanted to be the leader so bad.”

Hunk shrugs, surveying food options. “He was our head back at the Garrison. I think he liked being the one to make our team plans.”

“Huh.” In hindsight, she could see it: Lance always had a way with the kids back home. They loved him, always did whatever he said while they were playing, and he never let anyone get hurt in the process, but… “He would always go out of his way to keep our sibs and cousins safe back home, but sometimes he only got there in time to take a blow for them. Falling snow while we were on vacation, pole to the face while we were trying to teach them how to ride bikes, stuff like that.” Hunk makes an interested noise, pulling out a tray of something that looked like molded chocolate bowls. “I don’t want to think about him trying the same kind of stuff out here.”

The tray slides on to the counter next to her. “He did that for us too.” He sighs. “Whenever Iverson started yelling at Pidge, Lance would jump in and grab his attention. Little things. Now that you mention it, I’m kinda glad Black didn’t pick him – what if he really does try to do that?”

“I don’t think being the black paladin would make a difference, but I know he’d feel twice as bad if it were one of his plans that got someone hurt.” She nods.

“… Man,” Hunk says, “we really shouldn’t be out here, huh?”

“… What do you mean?”

“I mean, we’re all technically kids, right?” He pulls a circular container from the fridge and pops it open. “Allura and Coran are adults, but the oldest one of us is Keith, and he’s only eighteen!”

She frowns. “Keith is an adult then.”

“See, say that again and actually think about it.”

 _Keith is an adult_. Veronica scrunches her nose. “… You’re right. What are we doing out here?”

Hunk scoops out spoonfulls of whatever’s in the container, depositing portions into two of the ‘bowls’ on the tray. “Like, I’m glad that I get to fly Yellow and help people and stuff, but… shouldn’t adults be in charge of this kind of thing? That’s what I don’t get.”

“Allura, Coran, Slav, the Blade members, and then the leaders from the different planets…”

“But only one of them is part of Voltron with us, and she’s not even the leader!”

“You’ve got a point.” She sighs. “I don’t like it, but you’ve got a point.”

Hunk hands her a bowl and spoon. Whatever it is smells like orange creamsicle and it’s amazing. “I’m just saying, out of everyone in this inner circle we’ve got going, I think you’re the only one that actually chose to be out here.”

“I guess.”

She takes a bite and relaxes.


End file.
